The Truth of the Fantasy
by GuyYouMetOnline
Summary: Gensokyo is under attack by an ancient, sealed evil, a scenario Sanae recognizes as right out of outside-world fantasy. But inconsistencies soon arise, throwing the assumed scenario into question. Now, as Sanae tries to prepare Gensokyo to meet the coming danger, she must work with a young magician named Liri to figure out what's really happening before it's too late.
1. Prologue

_I come here sometimes, to where it ended. The land has healed, was healed by the gods of the mountain, but... sometimes I still feel something. Some remnant of what happened here, of what we were fighting. Or maybe I don't. Maybe what I feel isn't actually there. It's hard to tell, sometimes._

 _The battle here was the culmination of a series of events, of an incident more dangerous and more meaningful than any that came before it. It was something that, looking back, we of Gensokyo both should have seen coming and couldn't possibly have seen coming. Because we didn't_ know _. Most still don't._

 _I learned the truth, and... it changed me. It's not the sort of thing you can learn and walk away unchanged. I understand why it was kept a secret; it's... not pleasant to know. But it had to be known, had to be learned. There was a danger, a threat to all of Gensokyo, and this truth was at its center._

 _None of us in Gensokyo saw the threat coming, with one exception. There was one who realized the danger, but even she didn't_ understand _it. She saw what she expected to see. And yet, we still owe her much, for without her efforts, we would not have been able to meet the threat. But even she didn't truly realize what that threat actually was. Nobody did._

 _We were all simply going about our lives, unaware of the coming danger. Sure, there had always been periodic incidents, and some, such as the endless winter, had been potentially very dangerous. But others – the flying ship, for example – were harmless, and even the dangerous ones were resolved before they could cause any real harm. So we became used to this, used to the idea that we didn't have to worry._

 _We all got used to things as they were. We weren't ready for what came; it caught us by surprise. All of us. The magicians of the Forest of Magic._

The young magician youkai Liri focused, feeling the essence of the staff she held in her hands, and commanded it to change. She added to it the essence of flame, and felt the head radiating from it. She touched it to the ground, to a patch of grass. The grass caught fire, and she pulled her staff away and again commanded its essence to change. She removed fire and added water. She pressed it against the burning grass, extinguishing the flames.

 _The fairies, too childish in mind to worry even if they had realized they should._

"Too slow!" Cirno called out as she dodged around Daiyousei and flew off... only for Daiyousei to pop up in front of her and tag her before she could react. "Gah!"

"Tag! You're it!"

"Not for long!" Cirno lunged at Daiyousei, but her target wasn't there, having vanished and reappeared about twenty feet away. "Dammit!"

Daiyousei laughed. "You always forget I can do that."

"It doesn't matter. You're mine, Dai!"

"Then catch me if you can!" Dai flew off with Cirno in pursuit.

 _The humans, the 'youkai hunters' who target those youkai less willing to follow the rules._

The man moved forward carefully, well aware he was being stalked. Eventually, the youkai attacked, and despite his quick reaction, it quickly caught and overpowered him. But he wasn't alone, and his companion was an expert at stealth. The youkai had never noticed her, and her arrow struck it in the neck. Which didn't really harm the youkai, but it did distract the youkai for an instant, and the man had known it was coming. And he took his dagger and plunged it into the youkai's chest. Then an enchanted arrow struck it and delivered a blast of energy, and then the man stabbed the youkai again, and then a third and a fourth time, and it fell to the ground.

"Good work," the man said to his companion.

"Not a problem. The two of us are more than enough to handle a weaker youkai like this."

"Indeed, but you still did well. All right, come on. Let's get back to the village."

 _All of us, human and youkai alike. We all just lived our lives as normal. We didn't recognize the coming danger, and even the one among us who did see it coming didn't understand its significance, what it truly meant. But she would learn, as would I and others. We would learn far more than we ever cared to, and we were not prepared for it. I don't think anyone could be prepared for such a truth._

The sensation came again, and Rumia put her hand up to the ribbon in her hair. She knew what it meant, that brief pulse of energy, the flash . She knew what would soon happen to her. She didn't want it, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. But it wasn't time quite yet, as she was reminded when her hand touched the ribbon and it pulsed again, giving her a clear message even without using words: _Not yet_. But soon.

Rumia knew it was coming. She only hoped that, once it was over, she would be able to return to who she was now.

 _But you don't understand. I know you don't. You can't. A truth such as this, it changes you. But you don't understand, because you don't know it. You haven't had your preconceptions stripped away, haven't had cause to question not just every decision you've ever made but also that you made them at all. You see what you expect to see. You already think you know, don't you? Who the enemy was, what danger we faced. It is with certainty, then, that I tell you:_

 _You are wrong._

* * *

 **Well, it's certainly been a while, hasn't it?**

 **Yeah, so for those who don't know, a while ago I put my current story, _End Fantasy_ , on hiatus after its fifth chapter, intending to resume it after a revision/rewrite. This hiatus ended up being far longer than expected, mainly because I ended up getting distracted by the other story I was writing at the time over on Spacebattles, a Touhou/Familiar of Zero cross called _The Third Eye Staring Into the Void_. But I did slowly make progress with the revisions, and now they're complete. Rather than simply restart _End Fantasy_ , however, I decided to relaunch it. This, obviously, is that story.**

 **Now, this was a partial rewrite, not a complete one. As such, much of the first five chapters is still the same. In case any returning readers want to skip anything that's unchanged, I will be providing a list of changes for each chapter. This list will be at the end of the chapter in order to avoid spoiling anything for new readers, so just scroll down if you want to see what the changes are.**

 **Now, this may seem like a change of topic, but there's something I'd like to talk about regarding this story, and it involves one of the most common complains I got regarding _End Fantasy_ , that being the number of original characters. Though many canon characters are involved (most prominently Sanae), EF had a substantial number of OCs, and though I've trimmed their numbers a bit, there's still a fairly large number. The thing is, though, that only some of them are major characters. Liri, who appeared in the prologue here, is one of them, and she has a few friends who play roles in the story as well. There's also a couple kappa OCs who are important, and a couple residents of the Human Village are major characters as well. But there are far more OCs in the story than them, which brings me to the point I'm trying to make.**

 **There's an idea in writing known as 'nominal importance'. Basically, this is the idea that only characters important to the story are given names, with everyone else remaining nameless or being referred to only by titles or whatever. The thing is, I often find that this doesn't really work. For example, there's a bit in chapter five involving a kappa, Hikari, who's a shift leader at the Underground Nuclear Plant. Her subordinates are not important to the story, and as such would remain nameless under nominal importance. But not using names for the subordinates is weird, because as shift leader, Hikari would know their names. In this instance, the scene includes Hikari giving instructions to each of them in turn, and she uses their names while doing so. It would be weird for her not to, not to mention how awkward it would be to write that scene without using names.** **There are many instances in EF where unimportant characters are referred to by name. Another example is Nitori and a colleague discussing who they're going to hire to manufacture parts they need. After all, if you're recommending someone to a colleague, you generally use that person's name.**

 **As I said, the number of OCs in EF was one of the main complaints. And, yes, there were some unnecessary characters, who I've removed. But many of them are just 'hey, this guy told me something' or 'we should have this person make the thing for us' or 'hey, you, do this' kind of things. So I just wanted to make sure you all understood that just because there are a bunch of OCs with names, that doesn't mean they're all major characters.**

 **Anyways, I'll be posting the revised versions of the first five chapters over the next couple weeks or so, then it'll be fully new content from then on. To those who enjoyed EF, I hope you find this version better, and to those who didn't, I encourage you to give this new version a try. And to everyone who reads it, please don't hesitate to let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 1: A Fairy's Discovery

**Chapter 1  
** _A Fairy's Discovery_

"It's hard, sometimes," Liri said. "I mean, I'm fine with the way my life is, but..."

"You feel like something's missing."

"...Yeah."

She'd been considering it for a while, and now, Liri Takoru had finally paid a visit to the Myouren Temple. She knew several youkai who'd found help there, and now she herself was the one seeking their aid. And she'd been lucky; rather than speaking to just any of the temple's residents, Liri had been approached by Byakuren Hijiri herself, and the human-turned-youkai had quickly zeroed in on Liri's anxieties.

"It used to be," Byakuren said, "that a youkai was born with a purpose. Something brought a youkai into being, and that something was the reason a youkai was alive. Not all youkai were like this, of course. The distinct youkai races such as the oni and the kappa, for example, or youkai born from animals. But for others, yes, they were born each with his or her own purpose. But that was before Gensokyo was separated into its own land. Today, youkai can still be born in that way, but the sense of purpose that once came with it is no more. Do you know why?"

"...No, but if it changed after the separation, I'd assume that had something to do with it."

"And you would be correct. In the outside world, youkai were often shaped by humans' perception of them. Here, in Gensokyo, that is not the case. Youkai, like humans, are free to shape themselves. But while humans have always been that way, youkai have not. This, Liri, is why you feel like something's missing. Something within you expects a sense of purpose to be present. You feel like something's missing because something-that sense of purpose- _is_ missing.

"There are two ways to deal with what you're feeling. One is to simply ignore this feeling. Just live your life as you have been, paying it no heed, and eventually you will cease to notice it. It will no longer bother you. This may sound simple, and for some it is, but for others it can be very difficult. If you choose this path, know that you can at any time come to us for aid. This also holds true for the other path; however, there is less we can do for you if you choose it. That second path to overcoming the absence of a sense of purpose is to find it. Find a purpose for yourself. That, Liri, is the option I chose.

"You may be thinking-many do-that I don't understand what this is like for you because I was born as a human. But I do understand, because no human is born with that sense of purpose. A human who desires a purpose must find one. This has been true for them since the beginning. And yes, many humans simply live their lives without a purpose, and some of those who try to find a purpose never succeed. But others do find their purposes, as I have found mine. Perhaps they find it by searching hard enough, or perhaps, like me, they more stumble upon it. Either way works.

"Those are your options, Liri. Either find a purpose, or learn to live without one. Both are equally valid options. I can't tell you which choice to make; that is up to you. What I _can_ do is to give you an idea of the difficulties each choice carries with it, and to help you overcome those of whichever choice you do make. But which choice you make is up to you. Do you understand?"

"I... yes," Liri said.

"Good. I have other duties I must attend to, but feel free to stay as long as you like, and to return at any time. I or one of my companions here can answer any questions you might have, or give you information you may want. And when you do make your choice, we will do everything we can to help you on your path."

* * *

Tilea lay on the ground, idly forming balls of dirt and tossing them into each other. _Where is she, anyways? She's usually here right now, isn't she?_

Tilea heard someone approach and quickly leapt to her feet, shaking the dirt off her wings as she turned to face the new arrival. "There you are, Liri! Where've you be- wait, you're not Liri."

"What?" The newcomer said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "I'm not? Are you sure?"

"...Shut up, 'Kara."

Enkara Oshiniri just laughed. "Actually, I thought Liri'd be here," she then said, "but I take it she's not."

"I'm looking for her, too," Tilea said. "I found something I wanna show her. Hey, you should come, too!"

"Well, maybe. I was just in the area and thought I'd come say 'hi'. Wasn't planning on sticking around for too long. 'Course, I wasn't planning anything else, either. Well, 'cept drinking."

"Yeah, you and your sake. I don't get how you oni stand that stuff. I think it's gross."

"Eh, your loss. Anyways, what did you find? If it sounds interesting, maybe I will go with you."

"It's a- wait, no! I'm not telling! You'll have to come along if you want to know!"

"...Fine. But only if Liri's here soon; I'm not waiting around here all day."

* * *

Liri did have a few questions, mostly about what sort of things the temple did with some being about the people there, especially Byakuren herself. But before long, she was satisfied, and left, heading for the Forest of Magic.

Liri soon entered the forest and made her way to a clearing she knew well. _Might as well get some practice in._ But as she neared the clearing, she noticed that two others were already there. Two people she knew quite well.

Most oni rarely, if ever, ventured to the surface, but Enkara spent almost as much time above ground as below. Why she was here now Liri didn't know, but it wouldn't be unlike her at all to stop by just because. And she knew this clearing was Liri's favorite spot to work. The earth fairy Tilea, seated next to Enkara, knew so as well, although she didn't really understand. Fairies were almost uniformly childish, and generally had no real understanding of work or responsibility or anything of the like. Some might find it odd that Liri, a magician who put a lot of effort into her studies of magic, would be friends with such a person, but she was. It helped that Tilea was unusually smart for a fairy, but mostly it was because anyone could use some relaxation every now and then, and it was hard to take anything too seriously when someone like Tilea was around.

"About time you showed up, Liri!" Tilea said as the magician landed. "We've been waiting, like, forever!"

"I've only been waiting about five minutes," Enkara said. "Still, I'm surprised you weren't here already. Where were you?"

"I paid a visit to the Myouren Temple," Liri said.

"Ah, finally checked that place out? What'd you think?"

"They were certainly welcoming, and seemed to know what they were talking about. I may well ask their aid after all."

"I don't get what the big deal is," Tilea said. "Why d'ya need a 'purpose' anyways?"

"I don't, actually, but part of me _feels_ like I do. That's the problem, actually. A youkai doesn't need a purpose in this world, but that sense that there _should_ be one remains."

"...Huh?"

Enkara chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Til."

"'Kay. Now come on, you two! I found something interesting!"

"And what would that be?" Liri asked.

"Nuh-uh, I'm not falling for that! You'll have to come with me if you want to see it!"

"Well..." _Oh, what the hell. I could probably stand to unwind a bit._ "All right, sure. Where is it?"

"In the woods by the lake. It's this way! Follow me!"

"Lead on, then," Enkara said, and the three of them took to the air.

* * *

"So what exactly does this thing do?"

Nitori briefly turned her attention from the device she was setting up to the kappa standing beside her. "I told you, Liora, it's a large-scale optical camouflage system." The device was one part of a larger system, positioned at the center. In a circle around it were three rings of smaller devices. Another object, a power supply connected to the entire system, was positioned at the edge of the circle, and a control panel was positioned about ten feet beyond the circle.

Liora just sighed. "I know _that_ , Nitori. But what does it actually _do_? Optical camouflage doesn't work on anything very big, so how is all this stuff supposed to change that? All you told me is that you need a lot of camera pods and projectors."

"Optical camouflage is perfectly capable of working on a large scale if it has enough power. You know that. The problem is that the effect is much more noticeable."

"I think you just won the understatement championships," Liora said. Optical camouflage, which removed its user from sight, worked by taking the space directly behind the user and projecting its image directly in front of the user, making it look as though the space occupied by the user wasn't even there. This was mostly very effective; it did create a minor visual distortion, but one that was very hard to see on a smaller scale, especially if one didn't know it was there. Try to camouflage something like a village that way, though, and the distortion was impossible to miss.

"Well," Nitori said, "that's because you're looking at one side of the area and seeing what's supposed to be on the other side. When that's done over a big area, it's hard to miss. So instead of projecting what's on the other side of the area, what you need to do is project what the area would look like if whatever you're concealing wasn't there."

"Which is easier said than done. Take our village, for example. You think you can just remove the village part? That doesn't work. I mean, for one thing, if the village wasn't there, the entire area would be home to every bit as much plant life as the area around it."

"Well, yeah. That's what all this equipment is for. And why I had to involve you in the test; you may not be as smart as I am in general, but you're much better than me when it comes to optics."

"...Thanks. I think. And yes, I'm aware that you think this setup can solve that problem, but what does it all do? Let's start with the camera pods. Why so many?"

"Well, you'd need only one ring of pods the old way, to record what's there for projection to the other side. And you don't even need camera pods for something small like a person, of course, just a basic short-range optical sensor. Anyways, my setup has two rings, one facing outward and one facing inward. The system needs to be able to see the entirety of the area it's going to conceal. At full size, with something like our village, it'd need pods throughout the area, too, to complete its sight, but this is just the initial prototype. Once I've perfected the system, I'll scale it up."

"I'll be impressed if it works even at this scale," Liora said. And it would be impressive. Currently, optical camouflage couldn't conceal anything much larger than a person, but Nitori's system was enclosing a circular area twenty feet in diameter. "But, okay, you're covering the whole area with the camera pods. Then what?"

Nitori finished with the central device and got to her feet. "That's where this thing comes in. It takes the feed from the pods and extrapolates to figure out what the area would look like without anything in it. Enka helped me with that part."

"Yeah, that sounds like it'd be in her area of expertise. Although I bet even she had a hard time with it."

"Yeah, but she did it."

"Then why isn't she the one out here with you?"

"Because we've already tested her part," Nitori said. "The extrapolation system works perfectly, but like you, she doesn't know crap outside of her area of expertise. This test is about the hardware and the overall system; she'd be useless here, but I do need you for the cameras and projectors."

"...Right. So, then, I'm assuming that this extrapolation is what's given to the projectors. And the reason you needed my projectors specifically."

"That's right. Yours are the best, and the only ones that can project the needed level of image depth and detail in a fine-enough resolution once I take this thing full-scale. Okay, you got all the rings set up?"

"They're in position," Liora said, "and the connections on their end are good."

"Central system's end is ready, too," Nitori said. "Okay, let's do this." She walked over to the power supply. "All right, generator looks good.." She then exited the circle, heading over to the control panel. "Okay, beginning startup. Make sure you stay in the center there."

"...Why? And why do you have the control panel all the way over there?"

"In case something explodes, obviously. That's why the central system is in the middle of the circle, too, while the generator is on the edge. This takes a lot of power, and it's the first test of the full system. Do you really think everything's going to work perfectly? Hell, if I didn't think anything would go wrong, I'd've jumped straight to full scale."

"And _I'm_ here in the middle while _you're_ safe over there."

"There won't be any big blows; generator doesn't produce enough energy for that. Don't worry; you're safe."

"That's not very reassur-" Liora's response was cut off as the control panel blew, knocking Nitori to the ground. "-never mind, I'm fine here."

The control panel wasn't the only thing that blew. One of the camera pods was nothing more than junk now, and the same was true of the projector next to it. But the failsafes kicked in quickly enough to prevent any additional damage, and shut the system down.

Nitori was silent for a minute, and when she did speak, it was only a single word. "...Huh."

"I'm gonna go _waaaaaaaaaay_ out on a limb here and assume that wasn't supposed to happen," Liora said.

"No, I expected something. Didn't think the _control panel_ would blow, though." Nitori went back to the circle and started examining the connections as she muttered to herself. "Gotta be a fault in the routing circuit somewhere, something that put more power in my direction than it was supposed to. Hmm..."

"...Right," Liora said. "I'm heading back to the village to get some extra pods and projectors." But there was no response from Nitori. _Typical. She barely notices anything else at all when she's in this mode. Right, well, whatever._ "Be right back." _And you're lucky the shrine is backing this, or else I wouldn't be so generous with them._

Liora took off for the village, leaving Nitori tinkering with her devices.

* * *

"See?" Tilea said as she and the other two landed in the woods near the Misty Lake.

"...It's a cave in the woods," Enkara said. "What's so interesting about that?"

"It wasn't here yesterday, that's what."

"...Oh. Yeah, that's not normal."

"I wouldn't say it's all that hard to explain, though," Liri said. "I could easily make a cave like this in that time. The magic wouldn't be all that difficult."

"Can't you two sense it?" Tilea said. "There's something really weird in there."

"Hmm..." Liri focused, extending her senses towards the cave. And then she jerked back in shock. "What... what _is_ that?"

"How should I know? I can't get in."

"I see." Liri walked up to the entrance. "Yes, there's a barrier here. It's really weak, though. I couldn't even sense it until getting right next to it here, although I think that's partially because whatever's inside has a stronger presence that's overcoming the barrier's."

"Can you get rid of it?"

"Easily. In fact, with one this weak, I'm surprised you couldn't do it."

"I don't know how to break a barrier," Tilea said.

"One this weak, all it would take is a slight burst of power. Clearly you didn't even try."

"Hold up," Enkara said. "I'm not normally the voice of caution, but shouldn't we, you know, _not_ break in? Someone made this deliberately, that much is obvious. Maybe we shouldn't force our way in."

"Ordinarily I'd agree," Liri said, "but there's only one way a barrier this weak could possibly exist. Even the weakest of barriers anyone can place is stronger than this one. The only way a barrier could be this weak is a combination of age and lack of attention. Even the strongest of barriers decays over time if it's not maintained. I don't know why this place wasn't here until today, but it – or the barrier, at least – has been abandoned for quite some time."

"I guess that makes sense. We going in, then?"

Tilea walked up to the entrance. She pushed against it with her power, and there was a sort of shimmering effect that solidified into... well, into something, something like a thin sheet of clear glass, which then shattered. "Huh. Guess you were right, Liri. All right, come on! Let's go in!"

"Let's be cautious," Liri said. "Stay with me, Tilea, and don't do anything, or even just _touch_ anything, I don't tell you to. And that goes for you, too, Enkara. We don't know what's in there, but it's certainly a magic object of some kind, or else we wouldn't be able to sense it. I know how to safely handle unknown magic objects; you don't. So follow instructions exactly, all right?"

"Fine," Tilea said.

"Okay, then," Enkara said. "I guess you're in the lead, then, Li. So, well, lead the way."

* * *

When Keine answered the knock at her door, she was not at all surprised by who it was. "Reisen. Good to see you. Please, come in."

"'Good to see you'?" Reisen Udongein Inaba said with a chuckle as she entered Keine's house. "Really, like you didn't know I'd be coming. You have a good day?"

"I'd say so. The kids were fairly well-behaved today. What about you? Any, um, _problems_ today?"

"Not really, no," Reisen said as she took a seat, Keine sitting down right next to her. "I got some dirty looks, of course, and as usual there was always someone watching me, but no confrontations today. I think those people have backed down for now, simply out of frustration. They want an aggressive response, preferably a physical one, and it irritates them to no end that they aren't getting one."

"Well," Keine said, "at least they're not getting results, but still, that's not good. I hope it doesn't escalate into actually attacking you."

"Oh, I've had a few people throw punches at me, and one who tried to hit me with a spell. Of course, I wasn't actually anywhere near where they thought I was."

Keine nodded in understanding; Reisen's ability was quite handy for situations like that. "That's still not good," she said. "I... didn't realize it'd gotten that bad. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. If you tried to interfere, it would only make things worse. Don't worry; I can take care of myself."

"I know. I just wish you didn't have to worry about stuff like that."

"Yeah," Reisen said, "me, too. I really miss how things were during Reimu's time."

"So do I," Keine said, "but she's been gone for twenty-one years now. Her time is over." Reimu had continued acting as the Hakurei maiden until her death about thirty-five years after Keine's first real meeting with her, when they fought during the 'imperishable night' incident. Upon her death, her daughter had taken over as the Hakurei maiden. Now in her thirties and with a daughter of her own, Reika Hakurei was every bit as capable as her mother, but she wasn't quite as popular as Reimu had been. "Besides," Keine continued, "I don't know how much of that was due to her, anyways. She may not have had all that much to do with the improvements in human-youkai relations. It could have been a coincidence, just a good period that's now over, tensions on the rise simply because they happen to be on the rise rather than having any definite cause."

"Maybe," Reisen said. "I think Reimu did help some, though. Remember, she's the one who introduced the spellcard rules, formalizing the use of danmaku in combat. A lot of people felt safer when that was made a formal rule rather than just being the accepted convention. And she was friends with quite a few youkai, too. That also got people feeling more comfortable with us, I think. Reika... doesn't really do that."

"Well, maybe. Although I guess it's probably a combination of the two, and maybe some other things as well."

"Either way, things are definitely getting worse. I'm a little worried they'll get bad enough that I can't come here anymore. I mean, the only reason I'm as tolerated as I am is because I'm a familiar face."

"And because the medicine you sell helps a lot of people," Keine said. Ever since the 'imperishable night' incident, Reisen had been a regular sight in the human village, selling Eirin's medicine to the villagers. Keine in particular had gotten to know her quite well since then.

"Probably," Reisen said. "I don't know how much longer that'll hold out, though. If things keep getting worse, I may have to stop coming here for a while."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Keine said. "Some youkai may be dangerous, but others are not. I hope people realize that before things go too far."

"So do I, Keine," Reisen said. "So do I."

* * *

Liri, Tilea, and Enkara emerged from the smaller passageway into a larger cavern. "Okay," Tilea said, "that ceiling is _way_ higher up than the cave was on the outside, and we've only gone down a little bit. No way are we that far underground."

"Indeed," Liri said. "This cavern would seem to be magically enlarged."

"Yeah, but it looks like a dead end," Enkara said. "I don't see any other paths, so whatever object we're looking for has to be in here, right? I do see something on the far wall, some design of some sort or something, and then there's that big complicated symbol on the ground. They're obviously important, but I don't know how. I'd say that's your field, Li."

The symbol on the ground began to glow. "It's reacting to our presence," Liri said.

The symbol flashed, and a creature appeared seemingly from nowhere in the middle of it. It was a very distinctive creature, with two heads resembling a lion and a goat respectively and a tail that seemed to be a snake. "That doesn't look normal," Enkara said.

"A Greek chimera?" Liri said. "How did that get here?"

"You know what this thing is?"

"Only that it's a creature out of outside-world mythology."

"But why's it here?" Tilea asked. "And how'd it just appear like that?"

"That looked like no summoning I know of," Liri said, "but that has to be what it was. This creature was called here to defend this place from intruders."

"Um... maybe we should leave, then?"

The creature charged. "Too late for that!" Enkara shouted as she met its charge. The lion head opened its mouth to bite down, but Enkara redirected her charge into the goat head, slamming into it and knocking the chimera back. The creature's tail responded by spitting out globules of some green substance, which Enkara evaded.

"Don't let that substance touch you!" Liri called out. "It's probably extremely toxic!" She turned towards Tilea. "Til, drop a chunk of the ceiling on it."

"I'm trying," Tilea said, "but the earth here's all weird-feeling and it's hard to get a grip on it!"

"Keep trying," Liri said. She called to her staff, which promptly appeared in her waiting hand. She placed her other hand on the jewel at the top of the staff and prompted it magically, and the top of the staff changed, shifted into a blade. Her weapon ready, she ran at the creature.

The creature lunged at Enkara, who dodged to the side, but then the snake was there, striking at her. She barely managed to duck under its bite, then spun around and kicked the chimera in the side of the lion head. The chimera jumped back and quickly lunged forward again, this time slashing with its claws. Enkara leapt around the attack and tried to land a blow of her own, but the snake was spitting more of its gunk, forcing here to back off and evade.

Liri felt her weapon's essence and _shifted_ it, adding to it the essence of flame. As the chimera lunged at Enkara again, Liri struck from the side, slashing down its flank as the essence of fire scorched its hide around the wound. The snake head tried to bite her, but she ducked under the strike. She slashed at the snake, but it pulled back quickly, denying her a hit.

The chimera jumped back, facing its assailants, and both heads opened their mouths, spewing forth energy blasts, fiery blasts from the lion head and spheres of electrical magic from the goat head. "Shit!" Enkara said as she and Liri leaped in opposite directions. "I guess this thing still had a trick or two up its sleeve."

"We don't know what it can do," Liri said, "so be careful."

The chimera advanced toward Liri, only to come to a sudden stop as a large chunk of stone hit the ground in front of it, breaking into pieces upon contact. "Crap, I missed!"

"You were close, Tilea," Liri said. "Keep trying. Enkara! Flank it!"

Liri fired a blast of her own magic, but the chimera barely seemed to notice the hit. _Da_ _mn. I guess physical strikes work best here._ The creature belched out more magic blasts, which Liri was able to evade, but then the snake began spewing its toxic... whatever the stuff was randomly in front of it. Liri knew she could evade the normal globules, but now the stuff was being sprayed all over, and not knowing how deadly it was, she didn't want even a single drop to touch her. _Wait. It has to act on contact with the skin, or spitting it out like this would do almost nothing. So..._

Liri focused again, but rather than her weapon's essence she found her own. She wasn't about to try to truly change it, but she was fairly sure what she did have in mind would work. She added the essence of earth into herself, and felt the effects immediately as she stumbled forward and fell to the ground. She was heavier now, not by too much to move but by enough that it completely threw off her sense of balance. _I can't fight like this, not until I get used to it._ But the change served its purpose, the earthen essence acting as a barrier to toxins, which affected only living things, preventing the beast's toxic spray from penetrating into her skin. The normal globules could probably overcome this effect-she'd deliberately limited how much earthen essence she added to herself-but she was safe against the spray. And though she couldn't move effectively, she didn't have to. After all, she was just the distraction.

More blasts of fire and electricity came at Liri. Feeling that she would be unable to evade as she was now, Liri directed her own magic at the blasts, countering them with her own. The chimera then attempted to leap at her, only for Enkara to grab it by the snake-tail, spin it around, and throw it into the wall. And then a large piece of the ceiling fell and hit it, courtesy of Tilea.

The creature fell to the ground, but then got back on its feet. "Damn," Enkara said. "This thing just doesn't know when to quit."

"It's a guardian," Liri said as she removed the earthen essence from herself. "It will keep attacking until either we die or it does."

"Then we'll just have to take it out!"

They charged.

* * *

"I'm back!" Sanae said as she entered the Moriya Shrine. Unnecessarily, yes – a shrine's god, or gods in this case, had complete awareness of its grounds – but she still preferred to say something when she entered.

Kanako Yasaka, goddess of the Moriya Shrine, appeared seemingly from nowhere. "Welcome home, Sanae. How was it?"

"The tengu's training regimen seems to be as effective as always. The warriors are quite capable in combat, and their teams in the exercises I observed performed very well."

"But you still have concerns."

"Of course I do. I've voiced them before. They fight well, individually and as a team, but we still don't have any good ways to train them _tactically_. Victory takes more than just ability in combat. I just worry that what they're doing won't be enough without a proper sense for tactics."

"Well," Kanako said, "as it happens, I've been looking into that, and I think Suwako and I have come up with a solution."

"You have?!"

"We have. You remember those 'tabletop RPGs' they had in the outside world, right?"

The seemingly irrelevant question confused Sanae, but she did indeed remember such things. It had been decades since she'd left the outside world, but she still remembered it, and though she had never been too interested in such pastimes, she knew what they were. "I do, yes."

"How much do you know of their origins?"

"Um... I think the first one was called... _Dungeons and Dragons_ , wasn't it?"

"True," Kanako said, "but that's not quite what I meant. _Dungeons and Dragons_ wasn't made up from scratch; the ideas came over time as changes to what were once games with a military focus. Where players controlled soldiers on a battlefield rather than heroes on a quest. And _those_ games evolved from something else. Their origins, and thus the origins of tabletop RPGs, can be traced back to something called _Kriegspiel_."

"Called what?" Sanae said. "What's... krig-whatever?"

" _Kriegspiel._ I believe the name translates as 'war game', although I'm not certain. It was developed in... Prussia, I believe. It was a war exercise, meant to allow players to train themselves tactically. I've been thinking of ways to address your concerns, and eventually, I remembered _Kriegspiel_. Suwako and I have been working on a version for Gensokyo for some time now. Come, over here."

Kanako let Sanae to a table. From seemingly nowhere, she produced a large sheet of paper and rolled it out on the tabletop. "This is a sample terrain map. The actual 'game' would be played on a to-scale field, complete with terrain features such as forestation and varying heights. Each player starts the game with their respective forces, represented by figures, in their initial positions and a summary of the scenario as commanders in an actual battle would know it. But here we get to the key mechanic of _Kriegspiel_ , the reason why it succeeded where other attempts at making 'war games' failed: incomplete information.

"I don't actually know how it was done with _Kriegspiel_ , but in our version, there will be multiple fields, separate from each other. Each player has a field, and another is used by the 'umpire'. The umpire is the only one who knows the positions of all players' forces; no player can see another's field, and the umpire's field is available only to the umpire.

"So, onto the flow of the game. Each player starts with whatever information she would have in the scenario being played. The players decide what orders to give their 'troops', and relay those orders to the umpire. The umpire then puts these orders into play, informing each player of the results. Anything found by scouts, results of combat, whatever might have happened. Of course, again, each player learns only those things her forces would know. They don't know the positions of enemy soldiers, for example, until their own have 'discovered' them.

"Our version, of course, works a little differently. Incorporating magic allows us to simplify the process considerably. For the players, at least; it was quite complicated for us to make it work as we wanted. It does, however, make it much easier to use. All the statistics – movement speed, range of sight, that sort of thing – are basically coded into the figures. Orders are given verbally – there's a syntax, of course, but a simple one – and implemented automatically. The fields are linked, allowing them to all update automatically instead of having the umpire pass along the results. Players still only see what they'd know in a real situation, of course; the umpire is still the only one who sees everything.

"You still need an umpire, then?"

"We do," Kanako said. "There's a limit to how much we can put into the fields and figures. There are simply far too many permutations; we couldn't possibly program them all in – and that's basically what we did, program the fields and figures. There's an almost infinite number of possible interactions and variations; it's simply not possible to account for everything. The umpire's job is to step in if there's a situation the programming can't figure out. And, of course, the umpire also acts as a referee, making sure all players follow the rules."

"Makes sense," Sanae said. "How does combat work, then?"

"By evaluating a variety of factors relating to the troops encountering each other, including number, composition of forces, whether one group surprised the other, and many others. These are compared according to a very comprehensive set of rules, and the result determines the outcome: how many of each side were injured, how many were killed, how many retreated, how many were captured, and anything else that might result from such an encounter. These results are then given to the players, although again, each player learns only what her forces know and would be able to tell her. It's quite possible for a player to hear nothing of her troops' fate, if all involved in the encounter were captured or killed and none of her other forces could have seen it."

"You've been thorough, then."

"We have," Kanako said. "There's a reason it took a couple months for us to work everything out. We borrowed the basic idea from _Kriegspiel_ , but adapting it for Gensokyo was... complicated."

"I can imagine," Sanae said. "Magic _does_ complicate things, doesn't it? I would never choose the outside world over Gensokyo, but sometimes I do miss its relative simplicity. It's been over half a century since we came here, and I'm still confused most of the time."

"I don't think anyone truly understands Gensokyo," Kanako said, "not even Yukari herself. You're used to it by now, though, right?"

Sanae nodded. "Doesn't mean I don't miss the outside world's simplicity from time to time. But you're right; I am used to it. I couldn't live here without that being the case. And I do live here, and mean to continue doing so. That's what this is about."

"I know," Kanako said. "I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up, though. Sooner or later, the tengu and kappa will begin to questions us. Question _you_ , rather; Suwako and I have made our support known, but the entire mountain knows you're the one behind this. Your divinity is still young, Sanae; if you lose what faith you have, your divinity may well vanish with it."

"If our people question me," Sanae said, "I'll find some way to keep them on their current track. I don't care what it takes. Anything is preferable to what will happen if I fail. I may not have realized the threat until last year's 'wicked moon' incident', but now I have, and fortunately it didn't happen too late. I _will_ protect us, Kanako. I _will_ keep us, keep our lives here, safe. Whatever it takes."

* * *

It took a while longer, but eventually, finally, the beast fell and didn't get up. "Damn, that thing could take a beating," Enkara said. "What the hell _is_ it?"

"I'm afraid I don't truly know," Liri said. "It looks like a creature from outside-world mythology, but not one that was ever confirmed to exist. Nobody's seen one before."

"Huh?" Tilea said. "Then how do they know what it looks like? And how do _you_ know?"

"I can think of a few possible origins. Perhaps a shapeshifter took on such a form, or it was an illusion. Or maybe a storyteller wanted a strange creature and made it up. I don't know. As to how _I_ know of the creature, I simply came across a depiction of one in a book. You browse the shelves in Voile enough, you find all manner of random pieces of information."

"Voile?" Enkara said. "That library at the vampire's mansion? I've heard about that. Doesn't the magician there hate it when people take books? I thought she used to try to chase the black-white out all the time. Even the underground hears those stories."

" _I_ borrow books properly, and always return them by the agreed date. Marisa, the 'black-white', never did either. Always said Patchouli could have them back when she died. And it was quite literally the exact day she died, too. Patchouli went out to reclaim them as soon as she heard the news. The first time she'd left the mansion in centuries, apparently."

"She never goes outside?" Tilea said. "Jeez, she must be boring. I'd go nuts after even just one day what's happening to the monster?"

"Hm?" Liri looked over at the dead chimera, and saw its form seem to... melt away, almost, until it was completely gone. "That was... interesting. Another sign this wasn't a summoning."

"So, what," Enkara said, "it was just conjured from thin air or something?"

"No. Not possible. Living beings, even the simplest of beasts, cannot simply be made from nothing. Even those youkai born from immaterial concepts such as emotions are born from _something_."

"What about taking something and making life out of it?"

"Also not possible. Oh, you can make a body, but actually giving it _life_ is another matter entirely. Look at Alice Margetroid, the dollmaker. She can make dolls easily, but she's been trying for decades without success to give one life. A biological body like that chimera's is far, _far_ harder to make – you can count the number of magicians who've tried and succeeded on one hand – and even harder to actually bring life to. Although... such a construct _could_ be animated magically. If there were anyone around to do so, of course. I wonder if... well, no, this isn't the place for this. I can think of a few possibilities, but I'll have to do some research before I can draw any conclusions. For now..." She inspected the symbol on the ground. "This does bear some resemblance to a summoning circle, but there are significant differences. I'm not sure what these elements do, but what I _can_ say is that it's inert, inactive. It's of no further danger."

"Then come on," Tilea said, "let's see what the thing on the wall over there is."

* * *

Liora was exiting her workshop when the small device pinned to her shirt beeped. _That'll be Nitori. Guess she finally noticed I was gone._ She pressed a finger against it to activate it, and Nitori's voice came from it. "Liara, are you there?"

Liora hadn't expected the urgency she'd just heard in Nitori's voice. "I'm here. What is it?"

"I'm being attacked!"

"What?!"

"Liora, get to my workshop, grab a Binder, and then get over here!"

"I'll be there as soon as I can!" Liora pressed on the device again to deactivate it, then took off through the village. Fortunately, Nitori's workshop was close to hers, and she was there in less than a minute. She ran in, grabbed one of the cylindrical Binder devices from its shelf, and ran back out, slowing only to close the door behind herself. Then she took off again, heading back to the test site as quickly as she could, arriving a few minutes later to see Nitori fending off two attackers. A blast of water knocked one into a tree, but it recovered quickly. Nitori hit the second one with another blast, with the same result.

Liora landed next to Nitori. "I'm here!"

"Good! You know how to use that thing?"

"Yeah."

"Then grab one of these things, and I'll take out the other!"

"Got it." The Binder was an open cylinder, and Liora reached inside it, extending a small tube. It was an aiming sight, connected to the machinery at the device's center, and Liora aimed it at one of the attackers, then pushed the button on the side of the sight. A small, dart-like object shot out from the other end of the Binder, sticking itself into the target. And then the Binder went to work. The cylinder flew towards the target, leaving Liora holding only the central part of the device. The seemingly solid cylinder separated into several rings, which further split into halves. Then the central device shot out of Liora's hand and flew over to the target. It shot out a connecting cord to one end of each of the half-rings, which swung around the target before each half-ring attached at its free end to another half-ring. Then the device charged the cords with energy, hardening them and preventing the target from moving.

With one of the attackers captured, Nitori ceased holding back against the other. She withdrew a weapon from her pack and fired repeatedly, hitting it repeatedly with magically-charged blasts. Then she launched missiles and bombs at it from her pack, then finished it off with another magic-charged blast. But rather than its dead body collapsing to the ground as one would expect, it simply... fell apart. And then each piece burst into what appeared to be some sort of mist, which quickly faded, leaving no trace of the attacker behind.

"...Well," Liora said. "Now I know why you needed the Binder."

"Yeah," Nitori said. "There were three of them, and the first one did that when I killed it. So I had you get the Binder so we could capture one to show the shrine."

"You think this is what Lady Kochiya's been telling us to look for, then? Those things?"

"They meet enough of the criteria. Humanoid, but misshapen. Mindlessly aggressive. A dark color. The lack of any sort of indication of life – they have no lifesigns I could detect. And she said what we were looking for might not leave bodies behind; that's why I came up with the Binder in the first place, remember? To capture one if we couldn't present an intact dead body."

"Yeah. So then... if this is what she wanted us to watch for, then..."

"Then we need to show it to her. We'll have to postpone the testing. You gather up the equipment, all right? I've got a monster to take to the shrine."

"Sure thing," Liora said.

Nitori placed her hand on the central device of the Binder, then withdrew it. Her hand remained connected to the device by a magic tether, and as she rose into the air, the tether pulled the bound creature after her. "Be careful, Liora. There may be more of those things around."

"You, too, Nitori," Liora said as Nitori took off up the mountain. "You, too."

* * *

 _I know what you're thinking. You see things like those creatures, the sealed cave, and you think you know what's happening, what's coming. I already told you that if you think you know what's coming, you're wrong, but you haven't accepted that, have you? Not really, not in any way that counts. You didn't_ reject _it, no; you just didn't really accept it. Maybe it was in your mind for a bit, or maybe not. Either way, as soon as you saw ideas you recognized – the creatures, the barrier, the land being in danger – any fragments of it that did remain in your mind were forgotten. You saw the familiar, and now you assume you know where events are headed. Sanae, too, thought she knew where events were headed, but like you, she was wrong._

 _Oh, sure, Sanae got a lot right. She had a very good understanding of how events were going to proceed, and she'd already taken steps to combat them. What she got wrong was that, like you, she accepted them at face value, not realizing the need to look beneath the surface. She didn't realize what was_ really _happening. She thought she understood the situation, just as you think that now._

 _So I will say it again: if you think you know where all of this is leading, if you think you know what the threat is that Gensokyo faced, if you think you know what comes next, then you are wrong._

* * *

 **Changes:**

 *** Tenshi has been removed from the story and replaced by Reisen. As such, Keine's scene has been rewritten to include Reisen instead of Tenshi.**

 *** Akora and Alraune are no longer introduced in this chapter; their first appearance will be later in the story.**

 *** Kanako's explanation of the Kriegspiel variant has been reworked to be clearer and more understandable.**

 *** A brief narration portion has been added at the end of the chapter.**

 **So yeah, not too many changes just yet. I've pushed back the introduction of Akora and Alraune, since they don't really do much until later on. I also removed Tenshi; I like the Keine/Tenshi pairing for some reason, and it worked with _Radiant Decay_ , but here it ended up feeling kind of forced. So I used Reisen instead. Her involvement, both in the story and with Keine, comes about much more naturally, and having Keine paired with a youkai pulls her into the 'growing anti-youkai sentiment' thing more strongly. I reworked Kanako's explanation of the new war game, as it wasn't all that good initially, and then I added a little from the narrator at the end. She initially didn't say anything in this chapter at all, and I wanted to give her at least some presence in it.**

 **I think that's about all I have to say about this chapter. The revised second chapter should be up in the next couple days, and I hope I'll see you all there.**


	3. Chapter 2: As It Begins

**Chapter 2**

 _As It Begins_

"Okay," Tilea said, "I have no idea what this says."

"It's no system of writing I know of, either," Liri said, "but the message seems fairly obvious. Tilea, I don't think there'll be any more danger, but I'd like you to keep watch anyways, all right?"

"Sure!" Tilea flew over to the side of the room, landing on a pillar of rock she raised from the ground. "Lookout Tilea, on duty!"

"Thanks." Liri turned back to the wall. "All right, then. Enkara, you can help me with this. I believe we're looking at a puzzle of some sort. In order to move on, we'll need to solve it."

"I probably won't be any more help figuring this out than Tilea," Enkara said. "I'm not good with puzzles. Maybe I should step aside, too."

"You're more clever than you give yourself credit for. Besides, it can help just to have someone to discuss the puzzle with."

"Well, all right, then. In that case, what, exactly, are we dealing with here?"

They looked over the puzzle on the wall. Below the unknown writing was a field:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _/o

l , , , , , , , / , , _ _ , , _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ /

l , , , , / , , , , , , , , \ , , , , , , , , , , , l

l , , , | , , , _ _ , , , , \ , , , , , , , , , , l

l , , , | , , , , \ , , , , , , \ _ _ _, , / , , l

l , , , | , , , , , , , / _ _ / , , , _ , , | , ,l

l , / , , , , \ _ _ , , , , , , , , , , , , | , , l

l / , , , , | , , | _ _ , , , | , , , , , / , , ,l

l , , | , | _ _ , , , , , _ _ _ _ _ / , , , , l

l , | , , , \ , , , | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,l

_ _ | _ _\\_ _ | _ _ _\ _ _ | _ _/_ _ _l

"Hmm..." Liri touched the circle at the top, and as soon as she did, it began rolling. It rolled down the first '/' slope and across the row of '_' marks to the left until it reached the first pair of ',' marks, which it fell through onto the '\' slope below. It rolled down that slope and across to the right, falling through the next ',' pair, then rolled left down that slope and across. It rolled off the end, dropped to the bottom, rolled into the '|', and came to a halt. The entire field briefly glowed red, then the circle faded out and reappeared at the top.

"Well, then," Enkara said. "So that's supposed to be a ball or something."

"Yes. And it looks like..." Liri touched one of the '/' marks and found that she could slide it from side to side. "As I suspected." She then touched one of the 'l' marks on the right side, but it didn't move at all.

"So what is this, then? Some sort of grid?"

"A good way to think of it, I suppose. Yes, let's call this a grid, containing various tiles. The ball rolls along the tiles, with the ',' marks representing empty spaces. It looks like each tile can be moved two spaces left and right, aside from the outer walls of the grid, which can't be moved. And..." She touched the '/' tiles next to the ball, but again, neither moved. "Those are also locked in place."

"So then we move these tiles around to make a path for the ball? I'm guessing the goal is to get it out that opening at the bottom-left corner, then?"

"I believe so, yes."

"Okay. Man, why the hell is this even here?"

"I don't know," Liri said, "but there is definite power within it. If we solve this, I expect it to open a path onward."

"...Huh. I really don't get why this is here, but whatever. Let's see what we can do, then."

"Right. First, let's move this one and this one, and see what that does. Then..."

Experimentation soon revealed a few additional properties. First, as would be expected, one tile couldn't be moved through another. Another rule was that the ball could only fall through an area of two or more spaces; in a gap of a single space, it became stuck, triggering a failure and resetting the puzzle. There was no such limitation vertically, however; even if it was on a '_ _ _' path and another was directly overhead, it didn't get stuck. _Although the tiles are taller and wider than the empty spaces,_ Liri thought, _so that might be why._ Another property was that if the ball rolled into the front of a slope, left into a '\' tile or right into a '/' tile, it reversed direction and rolled the other way. If, however, it rolled into a '|' tile or the back end of a slope tile, it immediately came to a halt. The ball also came to a halt if it fell onto a '|' tile. Liri and Enkara incorporated all of this knowledge into subsequent attempts, but even so, each try ended in failure.

"Damn," Enkara said after another failure, "this is tough."

"It is, but there's nothing to do but keep at it. So let's try again. What if we move this tile left one space, and this one..."

* * *

After storing the equipment, Liora hunted around in her workshop for a bit before finding the information she was looking for. She took the containing folder with her and made her way to another workshop.

As Liora entered, the kappa within the shop looked up from her current work. "Welcome! What can I- oh! Liora! It's been a while."

"That it has, Takeri."

What're you doing here?" Takeri said. "It's not exactly common to see you in here."

"I'm here because I'm going to need help, and I don't know anyone better to go to than you."

"Well, I'd be happy to help, but I'm not sure what you think I can do that you can't."

"That's actually not the sort of help I need. I'm going to need something done, but I'll likely be... otherwise occupied."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Liora said, "you probably know Nitori's been working on a new optical camouflage system, right?" Takeri nodded. "Well, she's got a system that works – or will once she's worked out the bugs, at least – and she's using my camera pods and projectors in it."

"If she needs that sort of thing, she was right to go to you. Still not sure where I come in, though."

"Something happened, 'Keri. The order probably hasn't come down from the shrine yet, but I think it's safe to assume they'll be declaring Condition Blue."

"Shit," Takeri said, "really? What the hell happened?"

Liora described her and Nitori's encounter with the unknown creatures. "Nitori took the captured one up to the shrine. It's very much what Lady Kochiya told everyone to watch for. I'm betting Nitori'll be bringing the Blue order back with her."

"I'm still waiting on the 'why you need me' part."

"Lady Kochiya's told everyone where she thinks this will go. You know she expects each condition to lead into the next, and you know what it means if Blue gives way to Yellow and Yellow to Red."

"Bad things," Takeri said.

"Nitori and I are still working on the new optical camouflage system, but I doubt it'll be too much longer before it's working, and as soon as it is, Lady Kochiya will want it set up in as many places as possible. Camera pods, even good ones, are a dime a dozen, but only my projectors are sufficient for the new system,, and I don't have nearly as many as I'll need for multiple systems. Your stuff may not be at the quality of mine, but you're the closest anyone comes, and you're set up for rapid production."

"You need projectors, and quickly. That I can do, but I thought you said only yours were good enough. Are mine even sufficient?"

"They will be," Liora said, and handed Takeri the folder.

Takeri opened the folder and took a quick look at its contents. "This is-!"

"Schematics and specification for my current projector design. I imagine you can modify your production equipment to go from yours to this without much difficulty."

"I... yeah, I can do that, but... are you sure about this? You... you're giving me..."

"Everything you need to steal my design? Yeah. That's the other reason I came to you. I know I can trust you not to."

"...You're right. You can trust me. But... even if I only make yours for you, and switch immediately back to my own designs afterward, your design will still be in my head."

"It's not like you've never seen my designs before. Most of your stuff's already built on what you learned from me; tends to happen when you have someone as an apprentice."

"Good point. All right, then, I'll do it. And... thank you for trusting me with this."

"You're welcome."

"There's still the issue of payment," Takeri said. "I can't do this for free, even if it's for you."

"I wouldn't worry about that. This'll be on the shrine's order, remember? And we all know how generous they are with payment."

"Another good point. All right, then. You get the camouflage system working; I'll make sure you have the equipment it needs."

"That's the plan," Liora said. "Thanks, Takeri."

"Any time, Liora. Any time."

* * *

Another failure. "Damn it," Enkara said. "It's the wall tiles in the lower left. That last wall tile. We've found several ways to get the ball down there, but nothing that can get it past that one last tile."

"There has to be some way," Liri said. "If there's not supposed to be a way to continue past here, there wouldn't be a puzzle in the first place. It would just look to be a dead end."

"I guess that's true. But then how do we do it?"

"Hmm... we need to get the ball further to the left. Maybe... the ball gets stuck in a single-space gap, but what about..." Liri touched the leftmost floor tile on the top row and tried to move it only half a space over, but the tile wouldn't stop there; it kept sliding until it had moved a full space. "No. Hmm..."

"Can we move tiles while the ball is rolling?"

"Let's try." Liri touched the ball, but the tiles didn't move while the ball was rolling. "No."

"What if we carve a path into it? Turn empty spaces into floor tiles?" Enkara found a rock with a sharp point and tried to carve a new path, but any marks made within the grid vanished. "Damn. What... what's left?"

 _What's the solution, then? We've tried everything within the apparent rules, we've tried half-spaces, we've tried making new paths, we've tried..._ "We're overthinking this," Liri muttered. _We're missing something. Probably something simple, but I can't see what it is. How do I figure out... wait._ "Hey, Tilea! You seen anything?"

"No," Tilea said.

"All right, then. I don't think we need a lookout any more."

"Okay!" Tilea flew back to the other two. "What're you two doing?"

"Trying to solve this puzzle," Liri said. "We have to move these tiles around somehow so this ball can fall down to this opening here."

"Huh." Tilea took a look at the puzzle. "Wait, I'm confused. There's a floor there. It can't fall through floor, can it? It has to go sideways. How's it supposed to fall sideways?"

There was silence for a moment, then Liri spoke. "Of course. Of _course_. So simple the two of us just couldn't see it." She inspected the wall much more closely than before. "Yes, there's a separation here. The grid isn't on the rest of the wall. It's its own piece." _I was right to call her over. She noticed the simple thing we'd overlooked._ She looked at the grid again. "Okay..." She reset all the tiles to their starting positions, "so the path would take it... here, so this one needs to be moved..." She touched the leftmost '|' tile on the second row from the bottom and moved it one space to the right. "There. Enkara, try to turn it."

Enkara walked up next to Liri. "Well... I could, if I tore a trough or something out of the wall to make room for my hand. But there's a better way. Tilea, you turn it."

"Huh?" Tilea said. "How am I supposed to turn it? You're the stronger one."

"...It's rock, dummy. Use your power to turn it."

"Oh, yeah!" Tilea focused, reaching out with her power. "Yeah, the puzzle's on a different piece of rock. Which way should I turn it?"

"This way." Liri made a counter-clockwise motion with her hand. "Turn it 90 degrees."

"90... degrees? How do I turn something a temperature?"

"That's... not what I meant. All right, I'll just tell you when to stop. Okay?"

"Okay!" Tilea reached out again, and the puzzle began to turn. Once it had rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise, Liri called out to stop. "Okay!"

"Good," Liri said. "Okay, let's try this."

Liri touched the ball, and it rolled into the grid and fell down, past what used to be '_' tiles but now acted as '|' tiles. It landed on a slope and rolled down, falling to the next slope. It rolled, fell again, rolled down and across, then fell down to the next slope. It rolled down that slope, across what was now the 'floor' of the grid, and fell through the opening. The grid glowed again, but green this time, and then a section of the wall next to the puzzle lowered into the ground.

"Well, then," Enkara said. "Guess that worked. Kind of an obscure solution, though."

"Perhaps it was meant to be," Liri said. "Or, alternatively, maybe there's a clue in the wording of that text we can't read. Either way, though, we managed to solve it."

"Yep!" Tilea ran over to the new passage. "I think the thing's just through here! Come on!"

They followed Tilea into the passage, which eventually led to another chamber, though this one was smaller. A pedestal stood in the center of the chamber, in the middle of an intricate magic design of some kind. On top of the pedestal was a black sphere within a cage of magic energy.

Tilea, previously enthusiastic, had suddenly become much more subdued. "I don't like this place."

Enkara took a step into the chamber, then quickly backed out. "Wow. Okay, yeah, is anyone else getting a serious sense of _leave this the fuck alone_?"

"I don't know what that object is," Liri said, "but I can tell that it's extremely dangerous."

"Well, if nothing else, _someone_ clearly didn't want it disturbed. I mean, a hidden cave, a barrier on the entrance, that guardian, the puzzle thing, and now whatever all these symbols in here do? Yeah, I'm thinking someone wanted people to _stay the hell away_."

"These ones aren't meant to keep people out. Everything we've encountered so far was, but everything you see in this room is directed inward. This part isn't supposed to keep anyone out; it's supposed to keep something _in_. Something extremely powerful; you probably don't realize it, but what we're seeing here is... extreme. And even with it in place, we still felt something from outside."

"I don't want to be here any more," Tilea said. "Can we leave?"

"I would recommend it," Liri said. "I don't know what that object in there is, but I'm fairly certain that proceeding further towards it would be a very bad idea."

"Agreed," Enkara said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

"Someone's here," Kanako said, looking up from the diagrams and rule sheets she had spread out on the table. "And... some _thing_ , too."

Sanae didn't have the same sense of the shrine that its gods did, but she could feel it, too. Its presence was unlike anything she'd encountered before. "What... _is_ that?"

Sanae and Kanako exited the shrine, Suwako joining them as the kappa Nitori landed, carrying some manner of creature with her.

Nitori got straight to business. "This thing just attacked me. There were two others, but I killed them."

Sanae walked over to the creature. "You're using that restraining device you developed."

"The Binder, yes. Their bodies disappear when they die."

"Then..." Sanae took a closer look at the creature. "This is..."

"You gave us a list of characteristics. These things have several of them. Mindless aggression, humanoid but misshapen, disappear when dead, no detectable signs of life. That's why I captured it and brought it here, because you said that's what you wanted if such a creature appeared."

"...You were right to." _It's beginning._ She turned to face Nitori. "I'm declaring Condition Blue. Pass the word to the kappa. And take this thing back to the kappa village for analysis. Learn as much as possible about it."

"That's not my area," Nitori said, "but I'll take it to the right people." She took the creature and flew off down the mountain.

Suwako chuckled. "You actually called it 'Condition Blue'."

"Well, yeah." Sanae said. "Why not? It's easy to remember."

"And it lets you sound like a spaceship captain. But you're right; it does its job."

"Yeah. Okay, we need to pass word to the tengu, too. I'll inform them personally. Kanako, help me gather up all the information on that 'Kriegspiel' variant; I'll take it with me and introduce it to the tengu while I'm there. We need to get them started on that kind of tactical exercise immediately. Fortunately, we should still have time before we need any large-scale action, but we can't waste any of it." Sanae ran into the shrine.

Suwako chuckled again. "Well, she's gotten assertive, hasn't she?"

"It's good," Kanako said. "Even if she's wrong – and whatever we may say about her concerns, I know very well that you believe her just as much as I do – knowing how to assert herself is essential for her future."

"Yeah."

* * *

 _Sanae Kochiya. 'The Maiden of Miracles', as she's known by many._

 _Sanae came to Gensokyo about half a century ago along with Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya, the gods for whom she served as shrine maiden. That had lived in the outside world until then, but moved to Gensokyo as their faith declined. Kanako quickly became a dominant figure on the mountain, gaining faith from the kappa and tengu. But that was then; now, it is Sanae who merits the most attention._

 _Sanae Kochiya is not simply a shrine maiden. She is of divine heritage, a descendant of Suwako, one of the gods she served. In the outside world, she and her ancestors has lived as humans, though their powers did set them apart from most. But while Sanae was human before coming to Gensokyo, this is no longer the case. In the outside world, mostly devoid of magic, Sanae's divine aspect remained dormant. Living in Gensokyo, the land of magic, is what stimulated it enough to awaken it._

 _We owe the Maiden of Miracles much, for it is she who foresaw the threat Gensokyo faced, even if she didn't truly understand. But she was not the only figure of importance. Others had their roles to play, as well. The magician Liri Takoru and her companions, Keine Kamashirasawa of the human village, the kappa Nitori Kawashiro, the one knownvas Rumia, many were involved. I, too, had a role to play, and as unpleasant as it was, I knew what it would entail, and it was a choice I would make again._

 _I have that thought often, that I would make the same choice, but then I wonder: did I ever make it? Was there ever a choice? Am I making my own choices even now? Have I ever? I wonder, and then I tell myself that of course we had some freedom of choice, that if we didn't have some freedom within the control we never could have removed its influence. But then I think that, indeed, it would never have allowed us to remove its influence, which could mean that we_ didn't _remove its influence. So I continue to question what I see, what I think, what I choose._ Do _I choose, or is even my decision to make this record in fact beyond my control?_

* * *

As the trio reentered the first, larger chamber, where they'd fought the guardian, Liri came to a halt. "What's up?" Enkara said.

Liri produced a notebook seemingly from nowhere. "This design is... unusual. I've never seen a runic construct quite like it before. It's extremely complex, too. I'm copying it for later reference. Pretty big, though," she added to herself. "I'll have to divide it into sections over multiple pages. Okay..."

"Ah. How long's that going to take?"

"A while. This is a large and complicated construct."

"So, what, we're just supposed to wait here until you're done?"

Tilea, back to her usual self now that they'd left the inner chamber behind, gave an exaggerated sigh. "But that's boooooring."

"Then don't wait on me," Liri said. "There's no reason you have to stay."

"But this is _our_ adventure! We all have to finish it as a group!"

"Right," Liri said. "Suit yourself, then." She produced a pen, also seemingly from nowhere, and set about her work."

Tilea sighed again. "This is dumb! Adventures are supposed to be _exciting_ , not _boring_! You're not supposed to do boring stuff like this when-"

"Leave her alone, Til," Enkara said. "Let her do her thing."

"But-"

"The sooner you leave me alone," Liri said, "the sooner I'll be done."

"Oh, fine." The fairy flew over to Enkara, darting around above her. "Bet you can't hit me! Bet you can't hit me! Bet you can't-"

Enkara hit her. The oni's punch knocked her up into the ceiling, then she fell to the ground. "Huh," Enkara said. "Guess she's dead." Not that this was a problem. She was a fairy, after all. And indeed, she was soon back to life, once again daring Enkara to hit her. "What, you didn't learn from the first time? All right, then. I'll just do it again."

Liri ignored her friends' antics, focusing on her own efforts to record the runic construct. But soon, she stopped. She looked over the symbols on the ground, then at her reproduction. Then she went back over the parts she'd already copied and examined them more closely. Then she moved to a few random other spots and looked closely there. Then... "What the hell?"

Liri's utterance was soft, to herself, but it was during one of Tilea's dead periods, so the chamber was quiet enough for Enkara to hear her. "Liri?"

Liri didn't seem to hear her. She just kept moving around, examining the runes and muttering to herself. "Okay, what if... no. Is there a... no. What about... no, that's not it. But then what _is_ the..."

"Hey!" Enkara said. "Liri!" This time she got Liri's attention. "What's going on?"

"I'm... not sure," Liri said. "There's something wrong here."

"There's a lot wrong with this place. The puzzle, that... _thing_ further in, the fact that this place wasn't even here yesterday, and so on."

"That's not what I meant. All of that can be explained. This... I can't figure it out."

"So?" Tilea said as she came back to life. "There's a lot of things I don't get. Also, what are we talking about?"

"There's something... strange about this construct. _Very_ strange."

"Well," Enkara said, "you did say conjuring a beast like that is thought to be impossible. You shouldn't be surprised to find something you don't understand."

"That's not it," Liri said. "There's... nothing _to_ understand."

"Yeah, um, I have no idea what that's supposed to mean."

"There's... well, okay, how much do you know about runes?"

"Not a damn thing."

"Okay, then." Liri said. "All right, so a spell requires two things: energy and shape. Normally, both are provided by the caster, but as I'm sure you can see, there's a weakness there."

"You need to actually be there to cast the spell."

"That's right," Liri said. "Whether we're talking about offensive magic, enchantments, barriers, or any other sort of magic, the magician has to actually be there to cast the spell."

"And runes change this?"

"Yes. When activated, runes will essentially cast a spell for you. That's not their only use – they can be exceedingly helpful with casting particularly complex spells, for example. Also, some magic, such as a seal as strong as the one we found deeper in, can look similar to runes – but it's the one that matters here. Runes are charged with energy, which becomes the energy for the spell, and their form shapes the energy into the spell."

"Which is why different spells use different runes," Enkara said.

Liri nodded. "The form of a runic construct is exceptionally important, and requires rather exacting precision."

"But this one isn't precise?"

"It's more than that," Liri said. "It's... we _saw_ its spell activate, so this shouldn't be possible, but... this particular runic construct is completely meaningless."

"Huh. You sure you aren't just seeing runes you don't recognize? It _was_ a spell you thought impossible."

Liri shook her head. "That's not how it works. It's not like spellcards. Runes don't actually contain _spells_ , just _energy_. When they're activated, that energy reacts, and the shape of the runes controls the reaction. Even if a rune is one I couldn't figure out myself, I can still determine certain things about it from its form. And this... there's no form here. It's as if somebody just drew random symbols. There's no logic, no cohesion, no consistency. It's still a runic construct and thus capable of holding magic energy, but the control's just... not there. There's no way a mess like this could produce anything but an explosion."

"Well, you're wrong, then," Tilea said, "because that's not what happened."

"I know. That's what's baffling me. But... it doesn't change what I'm doing right now. I still need to copy it down and research it; this just means it has a second mystery."

"Then get back to work so you can finish so we can leave."

Liri just chuckled as she did as the fairy said.

* * *

Keine sighed as she stepped out of her house to greet the approaching visitor. Not because of who the visitor was, but because of the two hostile-looking men following behind her. _Just because she's a youkai. Idiots. They know damn well the tengu are in no way hostile. Or_ should _know, at least._ "Well, this is unexpected. It's not often we're visited by any tengu other than Aya."

"I was sent here on the orders of Lady Kochiya," the tengu said. "My name is Karis. I was told to find Keine Kamishirasawa when I arrived here. These two," she motioned to the pair following her, "were... _kind_ enough to direct me here. Are you Keine?"

"I am. Why don't you come in? And you two," Keine called out to the two villagers, "you can leave." The pair turned and left without a word as Keine led Karis inside.

"I apologize for them," Keine said once they were inside. "There is growing anti-youkai sentiment among many of the villagers. I've tried to convince them otherwise, but they aren't willing to listen. I hope they haven't tainted your view of humans as a whole."

"Not at all. Although if this attitude is becoming widespread, it may present a problem. I'm afraid my orders require me to remain here for some time."

"Well, how about you tell me why you're here, then? Please, take a seat."

As Karis sat down, Reisen came into the room. "Doesn't look like those two are coming back."

"Good," Keine said. "Hopefully they've learned that I will not tolerate attempts to spy on any guests I happen to have. Also, Reisen, this is Karis. Karis, Reisen."

"Nice to meet you," Karis said.

"Likewise. Keine, should I keep watching in case they try to come back?"

Keine nodded. "Just in case."

"They spy on you," Karis said as Reisen left the room again.

"Not on me. On you, and on any other youkai who come here. And I suppose 'spy' isn't really the right word. 'Observe' is probably more accurate."

"I know you sometimes have trouble with youkai here, but are things really that bad?"

Keine sighed again. "No, but a fair portion of the villagers think it is. Tensions are high right now, especially since there've been more disappearances than normal lately."

"More 'than normal'."

"Well, we generally have a few, mostly among those who spend significant time away from the village. It's all too easy to stumble upon an unfriendly youkai, unfortunately, even at the best of times. But it's been happening more than usual lately. The local youkai hunters have intensified their efforts in response, but there are those who aren't satisfied with that. Who generalize what's been happening and apply the behavior of some youkai to all youkai. We're all wary – some youkai truly are hostile – but these people have slid down into outright hate. For _all_ youkai, not just the hostile ones. Even Hijiri's followers are having... unpleasant experiences with them. Fortunately, they're still a minority here, but they're a growing one."

"I see," Karis said. "Well, that may make things more difficult. My orders will, as I said before, keep me here for some time."

"Perhaps you should tell me what your orders are, then."

"Of course. Basically, Lady Kochiya believes that Gensokyo is in danger."

"Hold on," Keine said. "Gensokyo's in danger? From what?"

"She said she didn't know exactly what form the danger would take, but she gave us some signs that it was coming and told us to watch for them. Apparently, a couple kappa encountered some manner of unknown creatures earlier today, creatures that met several criteria, including humanoid-but-misshapen forms, mindless aggression, and the fact that their bodies disappear upon death. This was enough for Lady Kochiya to give the order for what she calls 'Condition Blue'."

"And that is?"

"A state of general readiness. Condition Blue assumes a condition of general danger, and is designed to allow for rapid response. Blue gives way to Yellow, which indicates the expected arrival of a major thread, and Condition Red means said threat is present."

"So escalating readiness, then. Each condition assumes a greater danger."

"More or less. I'm here under Condition Blue."

"My first assumption," Keine said, "would be that you're here to warn us of this potential danger, but that wouldn't require you to remain here. So what _is_ your purpose here?"

"Lady Kochiya has believed for a year now that a threat to Gensokyo would appear, and has been taking measures to prepare for it. We've been conducting training regimens and other preparations for some time. As such, we are far better prepared to meet any enemy that arrives. Lady Kochiya believes that villages may come under attack by the creatures the kappa saw, possibly in numbers significant enough that the villages would be unable to repel. Some places, of course, aren't a concern – the oni, for example, can probably handle anything they're faced with – but Lady Kochiya doesn't want to risk any of the other villages being wiped out."

"And that includes us," Keine said.

"Yes."

"Hey," Reisen called out from the next room, "Keine and I are quite capable."

"I was told as much, but I was also told that you two are the only individuals of significant power and combat ability in the village."

"Not quite true," Keine said. "The youkai hunters generally know what they're doing. Although I will agree that there aren't many here with much power."

"Hunting," Karis said, "is not the same as fighting. Hunters manipulate the situation to their advantage and strike quickly. They select their targets carefully, and plan accordingly. A skilled hunter is a skilled killer, but not necessarily a skilled _fighter_."

"...I suppose that's true. Still, I feel confident that we are capable of handling danger."

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I've been stationed here. Others are stationed at various youkai villages that also lack significant combat ability. Many villages are, after all, populated primarily by weaker youkai."

"Banding together for safety, yes."

"Anyways, my role here is simple. I am to remain here in case of a threat to the village, and if one shows itself, I am to send an alert. I've been provided with a kappa-made communication device for that purpose. We have a quick-response unit on standby, made up of our fastest warriors."

"Who will move immediately to assist any village under attack," Keine said. "I see. Well, if that's the case, then I'm grateful for Lady Kochiya's concern and willingness to aid. But you're right; this will complicate things. There are those who will be... unhappy with your presence here. They would no doubt have you under constant observation, and you would likely be a victim of harassment. I doubt anyone would actually attack you, but even so, that, too, is a possibility."

"I'll just have to deal with all of that," Karis said, "because I intend to follow my orders."

"Actually," Reisen said, "I don't think that's necessary. If we need help, I can get it from Eientei. We may not be as fast as you tengu, but we're closer; it wouldn't take us much longer to get here."

"If you could communicate with them, yes. But unless you have something for that purpose, a messenger would have to go in person, drastically lengthening the response time."

"Well... yeah, I guess you're right. We don't actually have any Lunarian technology there, so no, I couldn't contact them from here."

"Even if you could," Karis said, "I would still remain here as per my orders, regardless of how unpleasant it may be."

"Actually," Keine said, "there may be a better way. It sounds like you don't truly have to be _in_ the village; you just need to keep watch for threats to it. What if I were to tell you that there was a place nearby where you could stay without issue and yet remain close enough to execute your orders?"

"What place would that be?" Karis asked. Then, "Wait, of course. The Myouren Temple."

"Yes. I'm sure they'd allow you to stay there. It may not actually be within the village, but it's close enough that you should still be able to keep watch. And the anti-youkai crowd won't bother you there. Even the worst of them don't bother the temple."

"Really?"

Keine nodded. "Byakuren may be a youkai, but she aids humans as well as youkai. It also helps that she was originally human. And that the reason she sought to become a youkai was because of a fear of death, something they can all relate to. Not that they like her, or agree with her, because they don't. And her youkai followers are treated just as coldly as any other youkai."

"But not Byakuren herself."

"They see her as mistaken, an idealist who doesn't accept the reality of things. But that's it. Anyways, yes, you'll be safe from them there, and you should be able to do your job just fine."

"It sounds that way." Karis got to her feet. "Very well, then. Guess I'm off to the temple. Thanks for the advice."

"Not a problem," Keine said.

* * *

"Gah!" Cirno jerked back, barely avoiding the claws of the... whatever it was that was attacking her. "Fine, then." She leapt into the air, formed a large mallet of ice, and slammed it down on the thing's head. "Take that!" Then she smashed it in the chest, knocking it back. "And that!" She shattered the mallet and sent the shards flying at the creature, ripping through it. "How do you like _that_?" But the creature was still alive, and moved toward her again. "Oh, come on!" She formed a sword of ice. "Fine, then. We'll do it this way."

The creature tried to charge Cirno, but was interrupted by Wriggle flying in from above and kicking it in the head. Mystia followed her in, tearing through the thing with her talons. And then Cirno ran in, stabbed it through the chest, and swung her blade upwards, slicing up through its head. And then the creature fell to the ground, dead, and its body faded away into nothingness.

Daiyousei flew down to join the others. "Are you three okay?"

"Yeah," Wriggle said. "That thing could take a beating, but we managed to take it out."

"That's good. I'm sorry I couldn't help."

"Eh, don't worry about it," Cirno said. "You're the thinker, not the fighter. I can handle anything that comes at us."

"Suuuuuuure," Mystia said.

"Shut up or I'll kick you around to prove I can."

"Well," Wriggle said, "you're certainly right the Dai's the smart one. So, Dai, any idea just what the heck that thing was?"

"I've never heard of anything like it," Daiyousei said. "I don't know what it was. But something about it just felt... wrong. I can't really explain it."

"You don't suppose that thing got Rumia, do you? It'd explain why we can't find her anywhere."

"No way," Cirno said. "That thing wasn't very fast. It couldn't have caught her, and Rumia knows to run if she can't win."

"Unlike you," Mystia said.

"Hey! I only don't run because I'm the strongest!"

"And yet you've lost to quite a few people."

"That's just because I wasn't trying very hard! Also, shut up!"

"Well," Daiyousei said, "I do agree that Rumia would probably just flee. I doubt that thing got her. But there's no reason it has to be the only one there is, and others might be faster. We should try to find her quickly."

"Then come on," Cirno said, "let's hurry and go look somewhere else! Come on!"

* * *

As the three of them exited the cave, Tilea spun around and struck a pose. "Adventure complete!"

Enkara chuckled. "Right, then. Well, that was certainly a thing."

"Yeah," Liri said. "I have no idea what was going on with that place."

"Something tells me you intend to find out."

"Of course."

"Hey," Tilea said, "does that mean more adventure? Then we have to all go!"

"No," Liri said, "this isn't your kind of thing. Although there may well be more sites like this one."

"Which could get dangerous on your own if there's another guardian," Enkara said. "Definitely at least bring me along."

"Actually," Liri said, "I'll probably ask Alraune."

"That plant youkai? Yeah, that'd do it. She's tougher than all three of us put together."

"Indeed. I doubt we'd run into anything she couldn't handle. I'd probably ask Akora, too, just in case, but I doubt she'd be willing to go into a cave. Avian youkai are generally averse to being below-ground."

"Yeah," Enkara said. "The hell crows we have in the underground are the exception to that."

"You have to bring me, too!" Tilea said. "And 'Kara, 'cause we're a team in this now!"

"We'll see," Liri said. _You_ were _helpful, actually, so maybe I_ should _bring you._ "But that's if there even are other sites. Right now, it's pure research. There's too many questions, too much I don't understand. I need answers, but they're answers that may not be known by anyone. Remember, some of what we saw in there wasn't supposed to be possible. Even more so with that... _whatever_ it was, that completely random 'runic construct' that _couldn't_ have worked. No, I'll have to delve deep into some fairly arcane fields for this. And the best place for that – the only place, really – is Voile."

"Oh," Tilea said. "Yeah, you can do that by yourself. That place is boring. Just come and get me when you're actually exploring somewhere, okay?"

"Sure thing."

"Yay!" And with that, Tilea flew off.

"Well," Enkara said, "I guess we're done here, then."

"Almost," Liri said. "there's still one more thing I want to do." She turned back to the cave entrance and focused, carefully and precisely shaping magic energy into a barrier. "There."

"You put up a barrier?"

"Yeah. That... object we found in there. I don't know what it was, but you were right that it should be left alone. We killed the guardian, but the puzzle probably reset, so with a new barrier, two of the safeguards will still be in place. I also left a message in the event that whoever made the first barrier returns. Given how long the barrier had gone without maintenance, this is a highly unlikely occurrence, but I felt it was smart to account for the possibility anyways. There was enough residual energy from that barrier to key a message to, meaning that while the barrier itself will keep anyone out unless I open it -or they're capable enough to break it – the message will only trigger for the person who made the barrier, explaining that we found the place and that I made the new barrier, as well as telling the person where to find me. I doubt it will ever be triggered, but it's there in case I'm wrong."

"Seems smart," Enkara said. "Anyways, I think I'll be heading home now, too." She took to the air herself, heading towards the passage to the underground. "See ya!"

* * *

"So, then," Kiro said, "is that all you know?"

Kiro was with three others, all humans of the village. Next to him was his wife, Harui, and the other two, seated against opposite walls, were Junpei and Sirena. They were all seated in the main room of an unoccupied house; its previous occupant, another friend of Kiro's, had been lost to a youkai. Eventually, someone would replace him, but until then, nobody lived there, which made it an excellent meeting spot.

Kiro was speaking to another man, standing in the middle of the room. "Yeah," the man said, "that's it. We couldn't get close enough to overhear anything. We saw her go in, we hid until she came out, we saw her fly off in the direction of the temple. Anyways, I have to get back to my post, so if you want to ask me anything, it'll need to wait until later."

"That's fine."

"Well, then," Harui said once the man had left, "it seems Keine's still determined to ignore all reason where youkai are concerned."

"Is she, though?" Sirena said. "The visitor was a tengu, after all. It's been a long time since they've been hostile to humans."

"A long time since they've shown it, you mean."

"Um, no. I mean it's a long time since they've _been_ hostile."

Harui scoffed. "You know that's not true. They're _youkai_."

"Yeah, because I didn't already know that."

"You're not acting like it! Youkai are our _enemies_!"

" _Some_ youkai are."

" _All_ youkai are!"

"Stop it," Kiro said, "both of you. Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. What's important right now is what purpose would bring a tengu to the village."

"Well, _obviously_ she's looking for prey."

Kiro ignored his wife. "It's too bad nobody could get close enough to overhear anything."

"Yeah, because Keine always has that _rabbit_ keeping watch. Really, she's in _love_ with a _youkai_! How much more evidence do you three _need_ before you admit she's a traitor to this village?"

"I'm going to go with 'any at all', for starters," Sirena said. "This is _Reisen_ we're talking about. She's been selling medicine to the village since before anyone in this room was even alive! How much more evidence do _you_ need to accept that she's not here to kill anyone?"

"And what makes you so sure she hasn't? How many people've gone missing that we haven't accounted for? Nobody knows which youkai took Iris last week, do they? Or how about Asuka three weeks ago? Or Hiro two weeks before that? What makes you so sure Reisen isn't behind those?"

"What the hell makes you so sure she _is_?"

"Stop it!" Kiro said, more forcefully this time. "Look, let's focus on what we know about this tengu. No," he held up a hand, cutting off Harui before she could say anything, "not that. Just what we _know_ happened today."

"Which isn't much," Junpei said, "is it? We know a tengu met with Keine, and we know it flew off towards the temple afterwards."

"What business would a tengu have there, though?" Sirena said. "The temple and the mountain usually don't have much to do with each other."

" _Obviously_ they're planning some-"

Kiro cut his wife off. "It's hard to say. Of course, the tengu don't usually have much to do with _us_ , either."

"Which is why it's obvious that they're plotting against us!"

"Oh, come on, Harui! That's about the dumbest 'logic' I've ever heard! Maybe if you actually used your brain for once, you're realize that!"

" _You_ 'come on', Ren! Stop being so willfully ignorant and wake up!"

" _Enough!_ " Kiro said. "If you two really want to go at each other, save it for later."

"It's not my fault she's an idiot," Harui said.

"Seriously," Junpei said, "give it a rest. This isn't American politics."

A pause as everyone looked at Junpei. "Sorry. 'America' is the USA, a country in the outside world. At the time I fell into Gensokyo, what passed for political discourse in that country was basically two sides yelling at each other and pitching fits whenever they don't get their way."

"Oh, that's right," Sirena said, "you're from the outside world."

"Then you don't understand," Harui said. "You're not used to the danger youkai pose."

"I understand, believe me. Even those who appear friendly can be dangerous, but they can also genuinely be friendly. If a wild animal attacks someone, that animal is put down, but _only_ that animal. Aren't youkai the same? Yes, many are dangerous, but not all of them. It is far safer to assume hostility until proven otherwise, but stop assuming it once it _has_ been shown otherwise. But yes, nature in the outside world is highly dangerous, and I'm well aware that here it's even more so."

"Okay," Kiro said, ""let's focus here, people."

"I am focused," Harui said. "That tengu went to Byakuren's temple. She's a youkai, Byakuren's a youkai, and they're conspiring."

"We don't know that. Remember, Byakuren used to be human. And yes, she, in her guise as a youkai hunter, helped youkai, but she also helped humans. She helps both even now."

"As a trick."

"Or because she wants to," Sirena said. "By all accounts, she genuinely wanted to help both humans and youkai, and I don't think that's changed."

"That... may not matter," Junpei said. "It's the scorpion and the fox."

"The what?" Harui said.

"The scorpion and the fox. A well-known fable. Well, it is on the outside, at least. Guess you all here wouldn't know it. Basically... well, they don't have youkai out there, but in fiction – children's stories, especially – it's common to portray animals as intelligent, able to think and converse and all that. Still animals, but animals that can be used as characters. The story I just mentioned is one of them."

"And this conversation reminded you of it? How so?"

"The story involves a scorpion that wants to cross a river, but it knows that if it tries to cross, it'll drown. The scorpion sees a fox, walks up, and says, 'Mr. Fox, could you help me cross the river?' The fox says, 'I would be glad to help, but I fear that you would sting me as I carried you across, and I would die.' The scorpion says, 'I would die, too, If I were to do that. I cannot swim, so I would drown in the river.' So the fox agrees to carry the scorpion across, and sure enough, when they're halfway across, the scorpion stings the fox. 'Why did you do that?' the fox asks. 'Now you will die, too.' And the scorpion says, 'I can't help it. It's my nature.'"

"And it's a youkai's nature to hunt us," Harui said. "No matter what Byakuren _might_ have thought before, she's a youkai now. And the nature of a youkai makes her our enemy."

"That's one interpretation, I suppose," Kiro said. "I kind of got the opposite idea, that Byakuren's nature is to value everyone and nothing will change that, not even becoming a youkai."

"Oh, come on," Harui said. "That temple is nothing but a danger to all of us."

"Not because of Byakuren. She'll never be a danger to any humans. Her youkai followers may be another story." Of course, Kiro didn't believe those youkai were a danger to humans either, but saying otherwise did serve to calm his wife somewhat.

Sirena spoke up again. "I believe you're correct, Kiro. Any danger from the temple will not come from Byakuren. I don't think it will come from her followers, either. In fact, I doubt there will be any danger from the temple. Our attention should be elsewhere. The forest, for instance, is far more deserving of our attention."

"True," Kiro said. "The hunters find more targets in the Forest of Magic than anywhere else."

"All I know about the forest," Junpei said, "is that I never want to go there. Outside-world wilderness was dangerous enough; I'd hate to go into any forest where the deadly animals _aren't_ the biggest danger. I'm glad that's not where I showed up upon falling into Gensokyo."

"Misuru landed there," Sirena said, "and she was fine. Although I will admit she got lucky, in that the first youkai she met was friendly."

Harui snorted in derision. "'Friendly'. Right. And which 'friendly' youkai did she meet?"

"I believe it was Margatroid, the puppeteer."

"Oh. Well, that's not fair to say. Everyone knows magicians aren't real youkai."

"...You'll have to explain that to me," Junpei said, "because they seem pretty much like youkai as far as I can tell."

"Well, you're from outside, so it's understandable if you don't know, but magician 'youkai' aren't born that way. They have to use magic to alter their bodies. Even those born as magicians aren't _truly_ magicians until they do that."

"Really?"

"More or less," Kiro said.

"Huh. Wait," Junpei turned back to Harui, "isn't Byakuren a magician, though?"

"Not in that way," Harui said. "She did... something else. I don't know what it was. But she didn't simply change her body with magic like normal magicians. She found some way to turn herself into a youkai. Magicians aren't truly youkai, but she is, and that means she's a danger to all humans."

"...Right," Junpei said. "Well, either way, it'll be getting dark soon. I should get home. Have to be up early, you know; the fields don't wait on late sleepers."

As Junpei left, Harui, too, got to her feet. "Well, then. I assume you two have more to talk about, so I'll head back home on my own. Judging by how long your private meetings usually last, I should have a meal ready by the time you get home."

"I appreciate it," Kiro said.

Sirena watched as Harui left. "She's... accommodating. Secure, too; a lot of women wouldn't like their husbands being alone with another woman." She stood, an he did as well, and she took a step towards him. "Never know what might happen, after all."

"She doesn't care enough to, well, care. She basically sees me only as someone who can provide for her. She has almost no practical skills outside the home, you know."

"And yet you still stay with her."

"Well," Kiro said as he and Sirena closed in on each other, "I'd hardly say I'm 'staying with her', given our own... activities, but you're right that I do not intend to end my marriage to her. She'd be helpless on her own, and I'm not willing to do that to her. Besides, she is my wife, and despite our... disagreements, I still love her." He reached under Sirena's top and ran his hand up her chest. "Even if I do prefer your company."

"Well, if that's the case, then this," Sirena pulled her top off, "is just getting in the way." She reached for Kiro's bottoms. "And so are these. So let's get them off, shall we?"

* * *

 **Changes:**

 **As with the last chapter, all scenes with Akora and Alraune have been removed or rewritten. Alraune's sister has also been removed.**

 **As with the last chapter, the scene with Tenshi have been rewritten to include Reisen instead.**

 **The character Teliri has had her name changed to 'Takeri'. This was to make her name at least a little more distinct from that of Liri.**

 **The villagers' meeting was reduced from involving eight characters to just four, and the scene was rewritten accordingly.**

 **This chapter has a bit more changed than chapter 1 did. Akora and Alraune had a greater presence in this chapter, including one where they interacted with Liri and the others, so removing them took a bit more work. I've removed Alraune's sister, Rafflesia, as well, and she probably won't appear in the story at all; I liked the idea of Alraune having a little sister, but Rafflesia didn't really serve any real purpose in the story, so I'll probably just be taking her out entirely. I changed Teliri's name to Takeri to make it more distinct from other names in the story, but other than that, her scene is pretty much the same. The other main change involves Kiro and his group. This meeting originally involved eight characters, but this was more than needed, so I cut it down to four. Two of them, Kiro and Sirena, are major characters, whereas the other two are supporting characters. Kiro's wife stayed, as did** **Junpei, the villager who's originally from the outside world. It's established in canon that people do fall through the border sometimes, so it's natural that there would be some in the village, and I kept him in I feel the outsider's perspective adds to the dynamic of Kiro's group.**

 **Now, it's very well-known that hate groups such as the KKK exists, and as such it's no surprise that hate groups appear in fiction as well.** **The thing is that, even in a fantasy setting, they're generally functionally the same as their real-life counterparts, showing blind hatred and contempt for a group or groups basically just for being even a slight bit different. And, of course, such hate groups are always unambiguously portrayed as being _wrong_ , which is what almost everyone not a member of them thinks of the real ones. But what if the groups in question differ in more than just skin color or sexual orientation or whatever? What if the hated group is, say, vampires, who have to consume human blood to survive? Or werewolves, who change into wild beasts? In a fantasy setting, there are quite a few reasons that certain races/creatures might _actually_ be dangerous to other people. And yet, I've never seen anti-them groups portrayed in anything but a black-and-white manner. When there's actual danger, actual relevant differences, the situation becomes a lot more complicated. And that's the case here, as youkai often do eat humans. They may be people, but many do still pose a definite, actual danger to humans. Yes, there are rules in place to protect humans (such as limiting attacks to those out in the wilderness at night), but the danger is still very much a real thing. And as such, anti-youkai groups wouldn't be the morally-simple affairs real-life hate groups are, and I wanted to show that. Kiro's group is not blindly anti-youkai; they're just responding to a danger, even if they may not all agree on the extent of that danger (except Harui; she is just blindly hateful, but even in a more nuanced portrayal, people like that do still exist).**

 **I'd also like to mention** **the puzzle Liri's group had to solve. I was trying to make it feel like something out of a video game, and I think I managed, although it was difficult to convey the efforts to understand it and solve it strictly in writing. I think I did well enough, though. Also, I don't think there's any solution other than the one the group found, but I could be wrong, so if you do see another solution, well, just assume that, like me, Liri's group missed it. Also, note that given this site's tendency to remove certain characters or repeated characters/spaces, the spaces, tiles, and right border may not be perfectly aligned, but I think what I managed is close enough.**

 **On a different topic, I realize that many authors don't like seeing critical reviews of their stories, but I'm not one of them. I certainly what to hear if you liked the story, but I also want to hear about what you dislike. Whatever you have to say, I'd like to hear it, so please don't hesitate to say it.**


	4. Chapter 3: The Sealed

**Note: I will periodically be including music tracks as BGM for certain scenes. I can't provide full links, since this site removes them up to '.com', but I'll provide everything after that. The links are all to Youtube, so type in everything for Youtube up to '.com' yourself, then copy and paste what I provide.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3  
** _The Sealed_

The Tengu had always had scouts patrolling the mountain, but with Condition Blue in effect, they'd been intensified. By now, all of the scouts had been shown the creature being kept by the kappa, so they knew what to look for, but they still had a very limited knowledge of the creatures' abilities. This was, however, beginning to change. There had been isolated encounters over the past week, from which they'd learned some about their opponents. In particular, the creatures were fairly durable, but not particularly fast or agile, and thus not too difficult for a trained warrior to handle a small number of. So when Momiji Inubashiri saw a lone one of them during one of her patrols, she did as her orders specified and engaged it.

The creatures all seemed to have humanoid forms, but always deformed or twisted in some way. As such, the name 'Twisted' was quickly catching on. This particular Twisted had an arm that became a sword-like blade half-way down. Momiji drew her own sword and engaged the creature at close range. Its swings were wild and sloppy, and Momiji had no difficulty evading them and cutting through the creature repeatedly, keeping it up until the thing went down.

Momiji took a quick look around the area, and spotted a pair of bodies on the ground. _The creature must have killed them just before I arrived he-wait._ She approached the bodies. _Hold on, those are fairies! What is... fairies' bodies disappear when they die, so why... how are these bodies here? A fairy's body vanishes upon death because the spirit resurrects in a new one. Wait, does that mean..._

Momiji took to the air. _I have to report this immediately._

* * *

"I have to say," the magician Patchouli Knowledge said to Liri as she met her guest upon said guest's entrance into the Voile Library of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, "you've spent an unusual amount of time here over the past week."

"I'm looking into something," Liri said. "I found something the other day – well, okay, it was Tilea, a fairy I know, who actually stumbled upon it – that I can't explain. It gave me a lot of questions, and if I'm going to find the answers anywhere, it's here."

"Tell me about what you found, then. I should be able to point you in the right direction."

"Normally I'd have asked you where to look right away, but I doubt even you know where to find information on something like this. You see, what we found was..."

* * *

"Okay," Cirno said, "we're all here. Dai?"

They were at the Misty Lake, the four of them. Cirno, Daiyousei, Wriggle, and Mystia. Rumia was still absent, which, of course, was what this was about. "We've all seen Rumia at least once over the last week. Wriggle, Mystia, you guys only saw her once, and Cirno, you've seen her a couple times. And so have I." In fact, she'd caught sight of Rumia many times, but saying so would have distracted Cirno, got her wondering why Dai was seeing Rumia so much more when the real question was why Rumia seemed to be avoiding them, or at least avoiding anything but watching them.

"Actually," Wriggle said, "I think I saw her again earlier today, but just like last time, she ran away as soon as I noticed her."

"So she's hiding from us," Mystia said. "Why?"

"Well, let's think. What else was happening when she first went missing?"

"We fought that... thing," Cirno said. "I can see why she'd hide from it, but why would she hide from _us_? Heck, she'd be safer with us, since we already proved we can beat them."

"Something's happening with her," Daiyousei said. "Maybe it's related to those creatures, and maybe it's not, but either way, she doesn't want us involved in it."

"Which makes sense, more or less," Mystia said, "but then why does she seem to be spending so much time watching us?"

"You know what?" Cirno said. "Let's stop wondering and start figuring out how to catch her. Then we can just ask her."

"She clearly doesn't want to talk to us," Wriggle said. "I don't think chasing her down'll be easy."

"Then we just need a plan! There's four of us and one of her, so we can definitely catch her if we have a plan. So we need a plan. Dai?"

"Well," Daiyousei said, "the best bet would be to use our numbers against her. We could try a pincer, come at her from different directions at once. Or we could try the good old chase-her-into-an-ambush trick. Or..."

* * *

Rumia watched from a concealed position as her friends talked. She was too far away to make out what they were saying, but she was pretty sure she knew what they were talking about. She'd been 'missing' for a week now, and she knew they wanted to find her, to know what was going on.

Rumia wanted to go to them, to talk to them, to enjoy herself with them, even just to explain herself to them, but she couldn't. Not when she knew what would soon happen to her. She just couldn't bring herself to do it. It would be too hard, for them but also for her. She knew what was going to happen to her, and although she didn't know exactly when, she knew it would be soon. Very soon. And she didn't know what would become of her afterward. She hoped to be able to return to herself, but she had no idea if this would actually be possible.

Part of her knew it was cowardly of her to hide from her friends, knew that she _should_ tell them what was happening, what was going to happen, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Rumia saw that they looked to be wrapping up their little meeting. Knowing it might be her last chance, she took one last look at each of them, lingering for a longer time on Daiyousei, and then she flew away, careful to remain unseen until she was out of their range of sight.

* * *

"...left a message in case I'm wrong and whoever made the seal comes along."

"Well," Patchouli said after a minute, "I can certainly understand what piqued your curiosity." Liri'd shown Patchouli her copy of the runic construct from the cave, and now Patchouli leaned over once again for another close look at the drawings. "You're certain this is an accurate reproduction?" Then, "I know. I'm sorry for questioning you. It's just that..."

"That this isn't possible," Liri finished for her. "Believe me, I know. That's why I'm here. What we saw is impossible in two ways. Conjuring a creature like that just can't be done, and that mess of a 'runic construct' couldn't have done anything except explode. Nonetheless, it happened."

"Then you should've shown me this sooner." Patchouli traced one page's drawing with her finger. "This is... fascinating. You're talking about entirely unknown magic here, something nobody today could possibly do. How old was it?"

"I can't say for sure, but old enough the barrier was decayed almost to the point of failure. It looked well-constructed, though, and I'd guess there was fairly significant power behind it. The rest of what we saw there certainly would have required a higher level of power. If I had to guess, I'd say the barrier was about fifteen hundred years old or so, and presumably the rest of it was the same age." The rest hadn't decayed, of course, but that wasn't surprising. Everything else had been layed on a physical surface, which helped to hold the magic in place. The barrier on the cave entrance, however, had been covering an open space. It had been anchored to the cave walls to hold it in place, but the magic had been held together only by its own structure. And those decayed over time, although well-constructed ones could still last for quite some time.

"Fifteen hundred years," Patchouli said. "Not enough time for the knowledge to become lost. Not for youkai, at least – humans, maybe, given their shorter lives, but not youkai. So it must have been unknown even at the time, hidden knowledge known by no more than a select few. Maybe even just the one person who did it. But knowledge doesn't just vanish. There are always remnants. Even if the person who made the construct is the only one who ever knew how, there would surely be _something_."

"And pretty much anything about magic can be found among the tomes of Voile. That's why I'm here. I've been searching, trying to find anything at all I could work with, anything that could give me something to work off of."

"Hmm... well, you can consider my own knowledge and abilities at your disposal. Something like this, magic that's been unknown for millennia – if it was even truly known at all – I can't turn away from it. I'm not willing to let this pass me by."

"Thank you," Liri said.

"Let me make my own copy of your sketches here, would you?"

"Certainly."

"In the meantime, I'd recommend you take a look deep in the east wing. That's where I keep the more... _arcane_ tomes."

"Dangerous ones."

"Many of them are, yes, at least if one were to foolishly attempt what's described within. None of the tomes themselves have any autonomous capability. Some do have power, but not any way to release it themselves."

"Could still be a possession risk, though."

"Yes, but you know how to protect yourself from such a thing. Aside from those tomes, the east wing is also where I keep the more esoteric texts. Unusual ones, ones I have had little reason to use and thus have little knowledge of. Also there are those texts I have so far been unable to decipher."

"I doubt those will tell me anything," Liri said. "If you have been unable to decipher them, I doubt I will be able to."

"Except that you have seen things I have not. You may find an image you recognize. And if you do find something in one of those texts, I would be more than willing to assist you in attempting to decipher it."

"Thank you for the offer. I'll let you know if I do find something."

It was then that Patchouli's demon familiar, Koakuma, appeared seemingly from nowhere. "Lady Patchouli, I hope I'm not interrupting, but you have a visitor. _Another_ visitor," she added upon sight of Liri. "And not another magician."

"Unusual for anyone else to have any interest in this place," Patchouli said. "Who is it?"

"Sanae Kochiya, the maiden of the Moriya Shrine. And she's here not to visit the library, but to speak to you."

"Very well, then. Bring her here."

"Sure thing."

Koakuma flew off, and Patchouli turned back to Liri. "It seems there is another matter requiring my attention. I know you'll treat the tomes properly, and I know you won't take anything without my permission, so feel free to search the library at your leisure."

"Thank you," Liri said, and left Patchouli to meet the new guest, heading into the east wing to continue her search.

* * *

 _Liri Takoru. A magician of the forest, and one of the key players in what was to come._

 _Many magicians specialize in a certain variety of magic. Patchouli Knowledge, for example, specializes in elemental magic, whereas Byakuren Hijiri's specialty is enhancement. Of course, these magicians do usually have a fair knowledge of magic in general; they're simply better in one specific area. Research and magical development are common for magicians, and focusing on a single area is more effective. Liri is one of these who has an area of specialty, and her specialty is unusual. She focuses on magical/physical integration; that is, combining the magical with the physical._

 _Liri's integration is similar to, but different from, enhancement magic. Enhancement magic such as Byakuren's involves using magic to strengthen physical aspects, while integration involves combining the two into one, which has many different potential effects. With enhancement, the additional effects are bestowed by the magic, but Liri's integration actually alters the target such that it has the additional effects itself. She's even able, to an extent, to do this to herself._

 _I first met Liri during the events I'm writing about here, and it was not a friendly encounter. In fact, she attacked me, although I will admit that she was not unprovoked. I said before that my role in the events was unpleasant, and it was that role which brought us into conflict. And it was during that conflict that I learned the truth, for she is the one who revealed it to me. She was one of those who had learned the truth, and she placed me among their number. And like the rest of us, I will, because of learning this truth, never be the same._

* * *

"Okay," Liora said, "connections on my end are good."

"Alright," Nitori said, "last reading... green. Ready to go."

Both kappa backed away to a safe distance. Nitori had added a remote activation feature to the system, allowing her to turn it on from a safe distance. After the first test, neither of them had made the mistake of standing to close to any part of the system again.

"Okay," Nitori said, "activating in three... two... one... now." She hit a button on her control unit, and the system came online. "Everything's stable so far," she said, studying the readout on her unit's screen.

Liora had a similar unit, though in her case the monitoring function was focused purely on the optical components of the system. "Camera pods ready Initiating recording in three... two... one... now." She hit a button on her unit, and the camera pods came online. "Pods active. Checking feed." She hit another button, and the display switched to the feed from one of the cameras. She cycled quickly through each pod, then returned to the main diagnostics display. "Feed's good."

"Feed processing good," Nitori said. "Extrapolation active. Ready for projection."

Liora switched her diagnostic display to the projectors. "Projectors receiving feed. Bringing online in three... two... one... now." She brought them online, and the projector ring and everything in it seemed to shimmer and distort, and then it vanished.

For ten seconds.

"Shit," Nitori said as the system shut down. "We're still getting too much feedback, overloading the relays." She'd rewired and made other changes to the system several times, improving the situation each time, but although this had been the best attempt yet, the full load was still too much.

"Cameras and projectors were within tolerances," Liora said.

"Yeah, we just have too many nodes, too many individual parts that all need power at the same time. That wouldn't be a problem if we were only going to use the system at our village or the tengu's, since we have energy feed from the underground reactor, but the system needs to be useable elsewhere."

"It's not an issue of using too much power, though, right? That generator of yours has plenty to spare."

"Of course it's not about that, Liora," Nitori said. "I know you're not as good at this stuff as me, but I still thought it'd be obvious. No, the problem is the relays. Even after making the setup as good as possible, there's still just too many individual units per relay with too much of an energy requirement – those projectors aren't low on the power use, after all. It's overloading the relays, and I can't just add more relays, because then the generator would have the same problem. And trying to stack relays would be even worse. Damn it, I'm going to have to scrap the whole design, come up with a multi-generator system. It'll have to be modular, too, able to add additional units as needed to allow for areas of differing sizes."

"Or we can just modify the generator so it can handle the load."

Nitori was silent for a moment. "...Or we can modify the generator." A pause. "But the only generator components that can handle the kind of load we'll be dealing with at full scale are... are all at the underground reactor."

"Yeah," Liora said, "I guess we do need to think about the full-scale system."

"Yeah. Anything they have at the reactor could handle any load we'll need it to, but, well, those things take a long time to make, and we'll need a set for each system we set up. We'd be looking at at least a week before we get the first one, and we couldn't move forward with testing until we have it. And then another week for each additional system we want to set up. I don't think the shrine'll be happy with that."

"Then the shrine'll authorize us to take some extras from the underground plant. They do have extras, right?"

Nitori nodded. "About a dozen spares."

"Then we find someone to start production immediately, and-"

"Tias," Nitori said. "She'd be the best choice."

"...Tias, then. We get her to start production, and in the meantime use spares from the plant."

"...Fine, that works."

 _Not too happy that I came up with the solution, are you, Nitori? Seriously, get over that arrogance of yours already._ "All right, then. I'll-"

Nitori cut her off. "I'll go update the shrine, then. You gather up the equipment and go talk to Tias." And then, before Liora could say anything, she was gone.

* * *

Liri didn't have much time to search before Koakuma appeared. "Miss Takoru, Lady Patchouli asked me to come get you."

"Oh? I thought she'd told me all she could right now. And she's with a guest, too, isn't she? Or is Sanae gone already?"

"Actually, Patchy thinks you and Sanae can help each other. Turns out Sanae thinks there's something locked behind some manner of seal, and apparently the sort of seal she described sounds a lot like the one you described to Patchy."

 _That's... unexpected._ "I see. In that case, lead the way."

Liri followed Koakuma through the library until they reached Patchouli's desk at the center. She was seated at it, and Sanae was seated in front of it. "Ah, there you are," Patchouli said. "Lady Kochiya, this is Liri Takoru. Liri, Sanae Kochiya."

Sanae got to her feet to greet Liri. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," Liri said. As Sanae returned to her seat, Liri sat down herself, a chair appearing as if from nowhere as she did. "I understand Patchouli thinks I can help you with something."

"I do," Patchouli said. "Sanae here believes that a series of seals exist somewhere in Gensokyo, keeping something locked away."

"Seals. Well, then, Sanae, why don't you tell me what you told Patchouli."

"Of course," Sanae said. ""I don't actually know for sure what form these seals will take, but there are a few things that can be expected. First of all, the seals won't be just lying around. Each will be within a specific location. There may be some manner of barrier blocking entry to each of these places, but if so, they wouldn't be difficult to remove.

"Each of the seals will likely be protected by at least two different security measures. One is a puzzle of some sort that must be solved in order to reach the seal. The other is a guardian, some manner of creature that protects the seal. And then there's the seal itself. It would have to be a very strong one, though I would expect it to be weakened now. There may also be an aura of evil around it, something you couldn't approach the seal without feeling."

Liri was silent for a moment. "...Well, that's... uncanny."

"Patchouli said you might know what I was talking about."

"A week ago, a friend of mine found an odd cave, and roped me and another friend into exploring it with her. The cave entrance was blocked by a barrier that was heavily decayed and thus easy to remove. When we entered, a creature appeared and attacked us. Our way was blocked until we solved an odd puzzle. And when we reached the object at the center, there was a strong unpleasant feeling centered around an object surrounded by the most elaborate – and excessive – seal I've ever seen."

"You found one," Sanae said. "And... you broke the seal, didn't you?"

"Actually, we decided to leave it alone. We didn't know what it was, but we all felt that doing anything would be a bad idea."

"Ah," Sanae said. "Well, it won't matter in the end, but still, that was smart of you. Where did you find this place?"

"It was in a cave near the lake. I can show you where, if you want, but I'm afraid I don't actually know anything about it. That's why I'm here, actually."

"Oh? Well, that's... convenient. I don't suppose I could ask you to share with me anything you find?"

Liri nodded. "Certainly, as long as you're willing to do the same."

"That won't be a problem. Although if you're looking into it here, I'll probably direct my own efforts elsewhere. There's a chance I might be able to find something useful in the Heida records."

"I doubt it, unless some event relating to these seals happened in the past."

"I have reason to believe just that."

"Well, then I hope your search is successful. I believe Keine currently has them, so you'll need to go to her. And if you'll be visiting her to examine the records, then I can leave any information I discover with her."

"That works. As for me getting anything I discover to you, well, you'll be spending your time here, so, Patchouli, would it be acceptable for me to leave anything I find with you?"

"Myself or Koakuma, yes," Patchouli said.

"In that case," Sanae said as she got to her feet, "I'll be off. Thank you for the help, both of you."

"You're welcome," the two magicians said, and Sanae nodded back in acknowledgment as she made her way out of the library.

Liri got to her feet, as well. "Well, then. I guess I'll get back to my own search."

"I'll leave you to it," Patchouli said.

* * *

Once again, Keine found herself emerging from her house to greet a visitor. There was no 'escort' for this visitor, however. Though she lived on the mountain, she had been to the village often enough that she was fairly well-known. Besides, she was still at least partly human, and her non-human aspect was not youkai but divine.

"Lady Kochiya," Keine said. "I wasn't expecting you. Please, come in."

"Thank you," Sanae said as she stepped inside. Keine offered her a seat, which she took as Keine sat herself down on another seat. "You have that rabbit living with you, right? Reisen, I think her name is?"

"Sometimes," Keine said. "She splits her time fairly evenly between here and Eientei. She's still there right now, but she should be in the village later today. Anyways, what brings you here today?"

"First," Sanae said, "I assume you met with the tengu scout who was sent here."

"I did," Keine said. "At my advice, she's residing in the Myouren Temple while she undertakes her mission here. Some of the visitors would have been... unhappy were a youkai to be staying in the village."

"Sounds smart, but I'm not actually here to talk about her. How much did she tell you about her mission?"

"She gave me the basics of your 'condition blue' and what her role was in it."

"Then you know I believe Gensokyo to be in danger."

Keine nodded. "I'm not sure why you believe that, though."

"Because something was found on the mountain a few days ago. Creatures. Unnatural creatures, the likes of which haven't been seen in Gensokyo. So far, it's just been isolated sightings, usually of no more than two or three at a time, but I expect this to change, and likely sooner rather than later. Their numbers will increase, and then the being responsible for their existence will appear."

"The 'being responsible for their existence'? What do you mean?"

"Exactly that," Sanae said. "The creatures are spawned through the power of some manner of evil being, and if left unchecked, it and its creatures will overrun and destroy Gensokyo."

Keine was silent for a moment. "That's... a dire prediction. I have to wonder why you expect this to happen, though. And what sort of 'being' are you talking about?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. That's why I'm here, actually. I know the Child of Miare is not currently alive, but her records are available, right?"

"They are. And you think this... 'being' of yours will be mentioned in them?"

"Probably not directly, but there may well be some pieces of information in there. Most likely something relating to when it was sealed away."

"...Sealed away?"

Sanae nodded. "This being will have threatened the world before, and been defeated but not destroyed. Those who faced it before will have been unable to destroy it, and thus have had no choice but to seal it."

"That seems... very specific. Where are you getting this information?"

"Actually, it's knowledge from my time living in the outside world."

"The outside world? The outside world has no knowledge of magic and other such things. Those things are confined to legend there. Our reality is their fantasy."

"Exactly," Sanae said. "That's how I know what's going to happen. Because it happens in the outside world's fantasy."

"Hmm... well, I suppose such a thing is possible. But... if you have this knowledge from stories from the outside, why is it so incomplete? You know that this being was fought before and sealed away, but not what it is? I have to admit, that seems... odd."

"It's because the different stories, well, differ. What I've mentioned so far are things the various stories all tend to have in common. But on other topics, such as the nature of the evil being, they vary wildly. That's why I'm looking for information about it, to get some idea of its nature."

"Assuming it even exists."

"Assuming it even exists. Although I have little doubt that it does."

"Well," Keine said, "whether or not you're correct, there's certainly no harm in allowing you to look through the Heida records. I have them stored here until the Child is born again. I'll show you where. Although I should warn you that if you don't have any way to narrow down what you're looking for, it may take a while. The records are... extensive."

"I actually do have a way to narrow it down," Sanae said. "I may not really know _what_ to look for, but I do know _when_ to look. The previous encounter with the being in question will have happened exactly a thousand years ago."

"You'll need the earlier records, then. Here, let me show you where they are."

* * *

Liora set down the last of the equipment in her shop's storage room and turned to leave, but as she did, something caught her eye. A recorder, set on the small table next to the door. She walked over to it and picked it up. _Huh._

The recorder struck her as odd, though it took her a few seconds to figure out why. As she thought about it, she remembered recording a message and leaving the recorder on the table, but she couldn't remember what she'd actually said in the message, and though she recalled making it, she couldn't for the life of her remember actually deciding to make it.

Liora played the recording back, but that only added to her confusion. _Why the hell did I make this?_

She contemplated the recorder and the message it contained. _Well,I guess I'll just delete it._

And then she set the recorder back down on the table and left the room.

* * *

Keine had been kind enough to allow Sanae the use of her study, and the divine maiden was looking through the records Keine had shown her when someone flung the front door open and dashed into the house. "Keine! Keine, where are you? We've got incoming!"

Sanae caught a glimpse of the visitor through the open door to the study, and noticed that it was a tengu. She immediately realized this was the scout dispatched to the human village, and that her sudden, urgent arrival could mean only one thing. She ran out into the main room at the same time as Keine came in from the other side. "Karis," Keine said. "What's wrong?"

"The enemy is approaching," Karis said. "The creatures I told you about. There's a group heading for the village from the north, about a couple dozen of them."

"You're sure?" Sanae said. "They've only been seen in groups of three or four at most."

Karis spun around in surprise. "Lady Kochiya?! I- I- um-" She shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry. I... I apologize; I did not know you were here."

Sanae suppressed the urge to giggle at the tengu's flustered reaction. "I have some business of my own here. I expect to be visiting Keine regularly over the next few days. I'll need you to remain on station, though, of course. But that's not important right now. You're certain it was the Twisted?"

"'Twisted'? Is that what we're calling them? Well, from what I've seen, that name does fit. And yes, I'm sure it was them. What do we do?"

"My presence here does not change your orders. Act as your instructions say."

"Right." Karis turned back to Keine. "Okay, we've got about a couple dozen of these 'Twisted' on the way. Do you think we can handle them ourselves, or do I need to call for help?"

"Hmm... well," Keine said, "it's hard to say. I don't know how strong of an opponent these creatures are. Sanae, you said your people have been encountering them over the past week; should I assume you know at least something about their capabilities?"

Sanae nodded. "Less than I'd like, but some. I... I don't really know how well you'd fare against that many of them. Or 'we', rather; I intend to fight with you."

"Thank you. But you're still not sure if we'll be enough?"

"I'm not. I just don't know."

"You said to follow my orders," Karis said. "In this situation, they instruct me to call in for aid."

"I know," Sanae said, "but if the response force is responding to one call, they can't respond to another. I'd rather they not be called in unless we know it's necessary."

"That thought occurred to me as well. The risk of not calling in is that we fail to fight the creatures off, but the risk of calling in is that the response force will be unavailable elsewhere while they respond."

"Yeah. But... well, we may not know if we need help, but we do know this attack is happening right now. In fact, that's really all we know. I don't want the relief force to be called in unless it's truly needed, but at the same time, I don't want to risk losing here. I... I just don't know."

"...Then in the absence of further instruction from you," Karis said, "I shall act as my standing orders specify and err on the side of caution, which means calling in for aid."

"Actually," Keine said, "I have a better idea. Sanae, you're with me. We're heading out to confront the creatures. Karis, get back to the temple. Tell them the village is under attack. Byakuren will certainly send aid."

"That's a good idea," Sanae said. "Karis, do as she said. And hurry."

"Understood."

As Karis ran out the door, Keine turned to Sanae. "All right, I'll sound the alert, then we'll head out and intercept the creatures. Let's go!"

* * *

The sound was unmistakable. The bell in the village had been magically modified, allowing it to produce a variety of sounds, as well as to, if needed, be clearly heard by everyone in not just the village but the farm fields outside of it. And this particular sound had one meaning and one meaning only: the village was under attack. And the pattern of the rings carried a meaning of its own, that of which direction the attack was coming from.

"Enemies from the north," the farmer Hoshu said to himself. The field he was working was west of the village, but he was on the northern end of it, and when he looked, he could indeed see... something approaching the village. "Moving oddly slow for youkai, though. And why are they on the ground? Huh."

Hoshu made his decision. The attackers were coming from the north, and seemed to be heading straight for the village. "I'm probably in less danger staying out here." And so he did, and he knew that most of the others were probably doing the same – and, yes, the ones within sight of him were indeed staying right where they were. True, most of them wouldn't be positioned to see the attackers, but that very fact would mean the attackers were nowhere near them. No, they'd know it was safer right now to stay in the fields, away from any fighting.

Hoshu turned away to get back to work, but then he noticed something in the woods just west of the western fields he was in. Some _one_ , rather. "Is that a... person?" Whoever it was wasn't watching him, though, but rather looking north, standing among the trees as she watched the attackers approach the village.

Hoshu dropped to the ground, hiding himself within the grains he was tending to. True, the youkai – and it _had_ to be a youkai – seemed interested only in the attackers, but he didn't want to risk drawing its attention to him. So he stayed on the ground, waiting until the danger passed.

* * *

 **[BGM = /watch?v=z49X4rpxdQE &list=PLc_RJ2laVnkAwYhZ7V8t4n4y-U1zd0fOj&index=29]**

"There they are," Keine said.

The pair landed in the creatures' path. "All right," Sanae said, "I can keep them back; Lady Yasaka's divine wind will keep them away from the village. I don't know what your combat ability is, but engage them as best you can. And be careful; we still don't have a very complete idea of their capabilities."

"Sounds good," Keine said, and took to the air.

Sanae faced the creatures, holding her gohei out in front of her. The snake ornament in her hair glowed slightly, and she felt Kanako's divine aura surrounding her. She brought the gohei down in a single motion, and the wind came.

Keine fired on the creatures from above as they struggled against the wind. Their advance slowed, then halted, then many of the creatures started getting blown back. Some, however, especially those which had additional legs or other means of more effectively bracing themselves, were able to keep struggling against the wind. And some of the others...

 _That's not good,_ Sanae thought as she noticed some of the Twisted rising into the air. _I can't keep them all back if some can fly. I'll just have to hope Keine's up to dealing with them._

Keine wasn't happy with this newly revealed ability, either. _Damn, they can fly? That's not good. Sanae won't be able to keep them all back if they can spread out in the air. Okay, looks like they're not all flying, though. Maybe only some of them can. Of course, that's bad enough; I don't know if I can handle that many at once._ But then, she didn't actually have to kill them. _I just have to hold them off until help arrives._

Keine flew at the nearest Twisted, sword in hand. She used to be... somewhat less than skilled in combat, though with enough power to handle most youkai that strayed near the village. More recently, though, she'd been taking combat and swordsmanship lessons from her friend Mokou, one of the most experienced and capable fighters in Gensokyo, and her skill had grown considerably in that time. _I just hope I'm good enough._

Sanae saw Keine engage the airborne Twisted, but she couldn't offer any aid. Right now, her best move was to keep the land-bound Twisted at bay, and she couldn't come to Keine's assistance while doing so. So she kept Kanako's wind blowing, hoping that Keine was up to the challenge.

Keine cut through one of the creatures, then shot above another and kicked it downwards. Another came at her, but she ducked below it and cut into it as it passed over her. Two came in and struck, and she evaded their attacks, but before she could retaliate, another came at her, forcing her to evade its strike.

Keine prioritized evasion over attack. The flying Twisted all seemed to be focusing on her rather than heading for the village, which meant all she had to do was survive, but that assumed none of them changed their minds. And, indeed, after blasting one down into the ground, she saw it seem to completely forget she was there and resume course for the village. Keine flew at it, but others got in her way and attacked, forcing her to evade. She managed to dodge past them, but the creatures were following her, and she knew focusing on the one made her more vulnerable to an attack from behind. But she had to evade them as best she could, because the one heading for the village _had_ to be stopped.

And then Reisen Udongein Inaba slammed into the lone Twisted from the side, hitting at an angle and sending it into the ground. "This is _not_ what I expected to find here."

"Reisen," Keine said. "Am I ever glad you're here." She evaded an attack and cut through the attacker. "This is getting difficult."

The lone Twisted rose up from the ground, but Reisen knocked it away again, this time sending it back towards the other Twisted. "Then it's a good thing I know how to handle myself in a fight. What's the plan?"

"Eliminate them if we can, but help from the temple should be coming soon."

"Works for me," Reisen said. "All right, let's do this."

Sanae saw Reisen join Keine in battle. _That's fortunate. They should be able to handle the fliers until help arrives._

Reisen didn't wield a weapon, but her training as a soldier had included close-quarters combat. A Twisted slashed at her with a blade-like arm, but she dodged and countered with a punch to its face, which she followed up with an energy blast. Keine came at another one from below and cut it vertically, which was enough to finish it off.

Sanae noticed something happening to one of the Twisted struggling against the wind. It was particularly misshapen, with one arm and multiple legs, but as she watched, its form shifted, becoming more human-like. And then it took to the air. _What the- they can change themselves? Wait, but then why haven't the others done it? Can only that one do it? And if so, why?_

Reisen had barely enough time to react as the changed Twisted came rushing at her from below. She managed to evade, but the Twisted quickly turned around and came at her again. This one was truly human-shaped, without any of the twisted features that had inspired the name 'Twisted', and it wielded a sword. "This is a tough one!" she called out to Keine. "I'll have to leave the rest to you while I deal with it!"

 _Great,_ Keine thought as Reisen flew up to engage the unusual Twisted. _Back to how it was before, then. At least we took out a few of them, so it should be a little easier._

Sanae's thoughts were interrupted by Karis landing next to her. "Byakuren's on the way. She'll be here soon, but I'm faster, so I came ahead to help."

"Good," Sanae said. "Go help Keine. Reisen showed up, but it looks like she's occupied, and I can keep these ones at bay as long as I need to, so Keine needs help the most."

"Got it."

Keine weaved her way through the Twisted's attacks, striking when she could but prioritizing survival. And then several were knocked away by a blast of wind as Karis joined the fight, rapidly slicing through the nearest one with her fans. "Byakuren's on the way!"

"Good," Keine said. "Reisen's here, too, but she's busy, so help me with these!"

"Already on it," Karis said as she targeted another enemy.

Reisen's opponent was far quicker and more aggressive than other Twisted. It came at her quickly, but she was able to avoid its strikes and retaliate with her one bare-handed blows. It, however, was just as adept as evasion as she was. Even when she mixed in energy blasts, she had a very hard time hitting it.

Reisen fired a large energy wave, and the Twisted pulled back to evade it. Which was exactly what Reisen wanted, as it gave her time to use her ability on her opponent. But when she tried to disrupt its vision, she couldn't. It had what _looked_ sort of like shadowy 'eyes', but Reisen wasn't able to affect them. When she tried, there was nothing, as though the creature didn't actually _see_ at all. It clearly had something that _functioned_ as sight, but it was nothing Reisen could detect and thus nothing she could disrupt, and the same seemed to be the case for its other senses. And her 'eyes of insanity' were useless if she couldn't latch onto any of her opponents senses.

Fortunately, she could still use the _other_ aspects of her ability.

Reisen fired a spread of lasers at the Twisted, which moved to evade them. But then she used her wave-manipulation ability on the energy waves comprising the lasers in order to redirect them, catching the Twisted off-guard and landing several hits. She charged in right away, but the Twisted recovered quickly and met her charge.

And then Byakuren Hijiri slammed into it from the side, sending it flying.

Sanae saw Byakuren's arrival, and the magician wasn't alone. Nue was with her, and while Byakuren aided Reisen, Nue turned her attention to the Twisted still struggling against the wind, bombarding them from above with a level of power Sanae knew she couldn't match, the same power she remembered from her own battle with Nue over fifty years ago.

Byakuren flew up beside Reisen as the unusual Twisted recovered from her strike. "Looks like we made it in time."

"Byakuren," Reisen said. "I'm glad you're here. Did you bring anyone else?"

"Nue's here, too. She's helping Lady Kochiya, and Keine and Karis seem to have their fight under control as well. You looked like you could use my aid more than them."

"That's for sure. This is a tough one, but together, I'm sure we can take it."

"Then I shall stand against it alongside you."

"Thanks. Okay, here it comes!"

The creature flew in, and Reisen met its charge. It came in aggressively, but Reisen evaded its strikes and blasted it in the face at point-blank range. And then it had to dodge as Byakuren came in and took a swing at it. It spun to the side and slashed, but Byakuren stopped the strike with her arm, her enhancement magic allowing it to block as well as any shield. Then she punched it in the face, and as her offensive capabilities were strengthened just as much as her defensive ones, the hit sent it flying backwards.

Reisen came in again, but was forced to evade as the creature struck at her. And then it hit her with an energy blast, knocking her backwards quite a ways. Then it turned its attention back to Byakuren, but while it was every bit as quick as Reisen, Byakuren was quicker, and her enchanted scroll was just as effective as any 'normal' weapon. And she wielded it expertly, weaving its magic into her own and using it in ways that would, to an outsider, look impossible. With the scroll's magic interwoven with hers, it and Byakuren were effectively no longer separate objects. While their magic was woven together like it was, it was effectively part of her, its magic and hers being made one and the same. Whenever the creature struck, the scroll was there to block it, or deflect it, and Byakuren moved fluidly from defense to offense, striking whenever there was an opening, even if the opening seemed too small to use.

Byakuren was doing quite well against the creature on her own, but Reisen still wasn't going to leave her to face it solo. She stayed back, letting Byakuren engage it up close while she fired on it from afar, using her ability to direct her shots around Byakuren as needed. The thing evaded quite capably, but between Reisen and Byakuren, there was too much for it to dodge, and it took hits from both. Eventually, it tried to pull back and put some distance between itself and Byakuren, but Byakuren kept after it, not giving it the chance, and Reisen kept pace with her.

As the number of Twisted facing Sanae dwindled, thanks to Nue, she ended the wind and added her own efforts to the attack. She may not have been at Nue's level, but she was still quite capable, and between the two of them, all of their targets were soon eliminated. Keine and Karis, in the sky above them, were doing similarly well; by the time Sanae and Nue joined them, only a couple Twisted were left, and those didn't last long.

Byakuren evaded an attack from her opponent as Reisen hit it from above with a strong blast, knocking it downwards. And then Byakuren slammed down on top of it, driving it into the ground at high speed. It started to try to pick itself up, but Byakuren swung it overhead and into the ground again, and this time it stayed down.

 **[End BGM]**

As Reisen landed next to Byakuren, the creature slowly, weakly, raised its head to look at them. And then it spoke. "Your 'victory' is meaningless," it said in a deep and raspy voice that was unmistakably feminine. "You _will_ fall. It is only a matter of time."

"Huh?" Reisen said. "What are you talking about?"

"It is inevitable. You cannot long resist me."

"Well, that's easy to stop. We'll just finish you now."

The creature laughed. "You have yet to face me. You have defeated only empty shells, thoughtless monsters of my creation. Even this form is only acting as a vessel. You have defeated only a shell, a mere shadow of my power. You are capable of holding me back only for now, while the seals remain. But as they weaken, and my freedom comes ever closer, you will not be able to escape your end. Even Prince Shotoku could only seal me away, and such a thing will not work again. Soon I, Mephilia, will be free, and then your end will be upon you." And then the creature fell to the ground and, like other Twisted, disappeared.

Reisen and Byakuren stood there for a moment, until they were joined by the others. "Looks like we won," Karis said. "Byakuren, Nue, thanks for the help."

"Of course," Nue said. And then, "Um, Byakuren?"

"Sorry," Byakuren said. "I was just thinking about what that creature said."

"Wait," Sanae said, "it spoke?"

Byakuren nodded, and repeated to them the creature's words. Then Sanae nodded. "Yes, that fits with what I've been expecting. And we have a name now, That should make my research easier."

"Maybe easier than you realize," Keine said. "Byakuren, Reisen, are you sure it said it was sealed by Prince Shotoku?"

"Absolutely," Reisen said. "Why? Do you know something about that time?"

"A decent amount, and nothing I know involves any seal, or any overt magical activity at all. Shotoku kept those activities secret."

"What about the records?" Sanae asked. "Would the Heida records have anything?"

"Unlikely, but possible. The Child of Miare has always been focused on Gensokyo, even before its separation, but I suppose there may be something. But there's no need to look for clues in those or any other records. If we want information on what happened between this 'Mephilia' and Prince Shotoku, there is a far better source. After all, why look for records of that time when we can ask Toyosatomimi no Miko herself?"

* * *

"You saw someone," Kiro said. "Are you sure?"

Hoshu nodded. "I couldn't make her out very well – she was too far away – but she was definitely there."

Hoshu had come to see Kiro as soon as the attack was over. As he'd been at home, Harui was also there, but right now it was just the three of them. "A youkai, obviously," Harui said. "You said it was just watching?"

"That's right," Hoshu said. "She was just standing there, watching the battle. I was too far away to see it, but youkai have better senses, so she probably could have."

"That's... odd," Kiro said.

Harui scoffed at her husband. "'Odd'? Hardly. Clearly this youkai is behind the attack."

"No," Junpei said as he walked in. "I was on watch when it happened, and... I don't know what the hell those things were, but they weren't youkai. And, yes, I'm aware I haven't been in this world for too long, but I'm still sure."

"Well, then they were clearly made by a youkai."

"I guess I can't say either way on that one."

"You're making a lot of assumptions here," Kiro said. "First of all, let's try to get confirmation that someone was there. Let's see if anyone else saw her."

Sirena entered at that precise moment. "I did."

"You saw her, too?"

Sirena nodded. "I was in the western fields today, too. I wasn't as close as Hoshu, but I'm pretty sure I saw someone in the woods. I don't think anyone else was in the right spot to see anything, though. I was only barely able to see her myself, and I don't think anyone but Hoshu was closer."

"All right, then. So there probably was someone there, but neither of you saw her doing anything but watching, right?"

"So what?" Hoshu said. "Why else would a youkai have been observing such an attack? Hell, what other reason would a youkai have to be there during the attack in the first place?"

"Well," Junpei said, "Byakuren was there to help us. That tengu – you know, the one staying at the temple? – she was there, too."

Harui gave a derisive laugh. "And you really think they're on our side? They're clearly trying to gain our trust before they kill us all."

Kiro ignored his wife. "Well, the important thing is to figure out if this woman Hoshu and Sirena saw was in fact involved in the attack."

"Maybe we should tell Keine about her," Junpei said.

"Oh, like she'd care," Harui said. "A youkai-lover like her? She'd try to tell us it was nothing."

"I doubt that," Kiro said, "but she'd probably pay little attention. I mean, all we know is that someone was probably watching the fight. If we want to figure out who this person was, we'll have to look on our own. I'll ask some of the hunters to be on the lookout; they're the most likely to see something."

"That sounds like a good idea," Sirena said.

"You're too trusting," Harui said, "all of you. I just hope you can see the truth before your idiocy gets you killed."

* * *

Keine wasn't really sure what, exactly, Senkai was. Toyosatomimi no Miko had created it from the space within the various cracks that existed within pretty much everything. Keine didn't understand what that meant, but Miko had shown her how to get there by passing through a crack in the earth. Senkai served as the residence of Miko had her people, and was also a place where humans could train to become hermits (although almost none succeeded). This, in fact, was why Keine'd been taught how to access it; people would be unlikely to discover it on their own, so Keine had agreed to take aspiring hermits there herself. Now, however, she had business of her own there. Byakuren, Nue, and Karis had returned to the temple, but Reisen and Sanae were still with her. They stood outside the Divine Spirit Mausoleum, Miko's temple, where Miko had met them.

"And this 'Mephilia' said I was the one who sealed it?" Miko said.

Keine nodded. "Prince Shotoku, to be specific."

"Well, that is me, but I don't believe I did any such thing."

"Think back," Sanae said. "It would've been a thousand years ago, almost exactly."

"A thousand years," Miko said. "Did it say that, too?"

"No," Reisen said. "Only that you sealed it. Sanae's the one who came up with the 'thousand year' timeframe."

"It's always a thousand years," Sanae said. "Every time."

Miok didn't ask what Sanae meant by that statement. "Well, then I can assure you it wasn't me that performed the sealing, as I sealed myself away one thousand _five hundred_ years ago."

"That's... really?"

"Yes."

Sanae started muttering to herself. "Then... why did... hmm. I... guess it was lying, but I didn't think that happened. So why..." Then, aloud, "Well, I guess that concludes my business here. When it said you were the one who'd sealed it, I was hoping we'd caught a lucky break, but I guess I'll have to figure out what happened a thousand years ago the hard way after all."

"It may not be that hard," Miko said. "There are quite a few youkai who've been alive that long. Just ask some of them about it."

"I'm afraid it's not quite that easy." And then Sanae started muttering again. "Although there often is _someone_ who remembers the first time. Someone who'd be living by herself, isolated somewhere. Someone... well, someone living here, but we already ruled that out. Another hermit, though? Hmm..." Then aloud again. "Well, maybe that is something to go on. Either way, I thank you for your time, and I shall take my leave."

Miko watched as Sanae walked a short distance from the temple and exited Senkai from the same spot she'd arrived. "What was she talking about?"

"She believes that events in Gensokyo are progressing in a manner consistent with fiction from the outside world," Keine said. "A not unreasonable theory, actually, given that Gensokyo exists as the fantasy to their 'reality'."

"That's why she thinks this 'Mephilia' was sealed a thousand years ago? Because that's how it happens in the outside world's stories?"

"That's right."

"Hmm... but then why would the creature have claimed that I sealed Mephilia?"

"Probably trying to throw us off," Reisen said, "get us looking in the wrong direction. Although now that I think about it, giving a specific name would just make it easier for us to figure out it was a lie, even if the person in question hadn't still been around for us to ask. It would've been smarter to just give us a false timeframe instead."

"Deception is still a possibility, though," Miko said. "There is, however, another possibility, and one that I find far more concerning."

"Oh?"

"What if this 'Mephilia' claims to have been sealed by me because it actually believes it was?"

"That's... an interesting thought," Keine said.

"It's possible," Reisen said, "but why is that so concerning?"

"Because," Miko said, "it then brings up the question of what happened to make it believe this. How did it come to think I sealed it, and more importantly, why?"

"You're right," Keine said. "That would be an important question. I'm afraid I don't have any ideas about answers, though."

"Neither do I. I'll send word if I think of anything."

"Thank you."

"Think nothing of it. At the very least, these 'Twisted' clearly pose a threat to Gensokyo's residents; whatever the rest of the truth may be, that much is quite clear at this point. And if Gensokyo is in danger, I will gladly offer my aid. This realm of Senkai is, after all, constructed within Gensokyo. Gensokyo is my home, and I will do whatever I can to protect it."

* * *

Something was bothering Sanae. Had been for a while, but especially now, after the attack. She thought about it all the way back to the shrine, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. Kanako, who met Sanae as she landed, could clearly tell that something was bothering her. "Sanae? Is something the matter?"

"Well... I'm not sure. Something's bothering me."

"What is it? I could feel you drawing on my power; what happened?"

Sanae recounted the events in the village, and her conversation with Miko as well. "I see," Kanako said once she'd finished. "And... it's about Mephilia, what's bothering you? That she claimed to be sealed by Miko when she couldn't have been?"

"In part," Sanae said. "It's... about this whole situation, really. Something's just... I don't know. I just have this feeling that I'm missing something, that there's some aspect of this situation that just hasn't occurred to me."

"Well, it is all too easy to miss something. When did the feeling start?"

"A while ago, actually, but it's been a lot stronger since the attack and subsequent meeting with Miko."

"Then think about what happened during the attack," Kanako said. "There's a good chance it's related to something from that."

"Hmm... well, the fight itself was a bit odd in that some of the Twisted flew, which they hadn't done before. Mephilia's possession of one, or whatever it is she did, was also new. But we've been aware the whole time how little we know about our enemy's capabilities, so this is hardly unexpected."

"True," Kanako said. "We only know as much about the Twisted as we've seen in battle with them; even the kappa's research on the one Nitori captured hasn't revealed anything. And we know even less about Mephilia."

"We don't really know anything about her. We just know that she's the one behind the Twisted, and that she was sealed away a thousand years ago. And even that we only know from awhat always happens in all those stories in the out... side... world." _Wait._

"What is it?" Kanako said. "Did you think of something?"

 _If this started a thousand years ago, how would..._ "How would it know?" Sanae muttered.

"How would what know?"

"The... no, wait, it wouldn't even have _been_ there yet." Then, aloud to Kanako, "You remember how I figured out all this was coming, right?"

Kanako nodded "Because of how common such stories are in the outside world."

"Right. Since the outside's fantasy is Gensokyo's reality, it makes sense that such a common plot would show up here, right?"

"It certainly made sense to me when you first realized the possibility," Kanako said.

"But think about it. This didn't start now, it didn't start fifty years ago, it didn't start from Gensokyo's separation from the outside two hundred years ago. It started a _thousand_ years ago, when Mephilia was sealed. This story – the outside world called it... 'epic fantasy', I think? – it wasn't around that long ago. So how could Mephilia have been sealed according to a story structure that didn't exist back then?"

"Hmm... well, I'm not so sure you're right about that. Stories have been around as long as humanity has"

"Yes, but not that _specific_ plotline. Yes, there were all sorts of myths and legends, and fiction as a whole is nothing new, but the epic fantasy storyline as the outside world knows it – or knew it at the time we left fifty years ago, at least – that's newer."

"You seem sure."

"Not because I think I'm right about that, though," Sanae said, "but because I just realized it wouldn't matter, since Gensokyo didn't exist a thousand years ago. Not as a separate realm. I mean, yes, the region of Gensokyo did exist, but it was part of the world. There was no 'outside world' then; it was all in the same world. Which means there was no separate realm of magic, no fantasy/reality divide. Even if that storyline did exist back then, there was no counterpart to be influenced by it, no separate realm for it to manifest in. As it is now, Gensokyo's reality is the outside's fantasy, but that only began _when it was separated_."

"That's... a good point, actually," Kanako said. "You're right; magic was still a part of reality a thousand years ago, even if it was already starting to fade. But that storyline _is_ happening right now; everything we've seen so far is more or less what you predicted."

"Yes, but it _shouldn't_ be. Mephilia _couldn't_ have been sealed as part of it, because that would've had to happen well before Gensokyo's separation."

"There are cases of people being sealed away, though. Perhaps Mephilia is one of those?"

"And just _happens_ to be exactly what I'd expect for the storyline? That's a little too much of a coincidence. But either way, the question's still the same."

"If Mephilia isn't a part of that storyline," Kanako said, "then who and what is she, and why is she acting like she is?"

* * *

A small cave in the middle of nowhere, unoccupied and unremarkable. It would do nicely. Rumia wouldn't be bothered here; someone stumbling upon her in this place was extremely unlikely. Not that it would matter if it did happen. She would be protected during what was about to happen, and she didn't know of anyone in Gensokyo with enough power to overcome that protection.

Rumia turned around, taking one last look at the world before heading into the cave. She reached up, grasping the ribbon in her hair, the ribbon she'd worn for so long. At first, she hadn't even been able to touch it, but that had changed, as now it was time for the ribbon to come off. So she pulled it off and let it fall to the ground. And then she fell to the ground, and a strange darkness drifted out of her, wrapping around her in a cocoon.

As her awareness faded, Rumia's last thought was of Daiyousei. Her only regret in all of this was not telling Dai how she felt. She'd tried to, many times, but she just hadn't been able to bring herself to do it. And now, as the darkness enveloped her, the fairy was all she could think of.

"Dai," Rumia said softly as the darkness flowed over her head. "I... lo..."

The cocoon completely enveloped Rumia, and her awareness slipped away completely.

* * *

 **Changes:**

 **As usual, any scenes with Akora and Alraune were removed.**

 **As usual, any scenes with Tenshi were rewritten to have Reisen instead.**

 **The villagers' meeting after the attack was modified to remove Daichi, one of the characters that originally appeared in the first meeting last chapter but was removed in the new version.**

 **A new scene was added with Sanae discussing the story so far with Kanako.**

 **Significant changes in this chapter. I had to rewrite the battle to include Reisen instead of Tenshi, though that wasn't too hard. I removed a filler scene with Alraune and rewrote the villagers' meeting, too, but the most significant change is the new scene at the end of the chapter. The contradiction of Mephilia claiming to be sealed a thousand years ago by Prince Shotoku, who was sealed five hundred years before that, was initially the only major clue so far that events weren't progressing quite as Sanae expected. One of the common complaints _End Fantasy_ got was a plot that appeared extremely cliched, and though that's not the case, it certainly appeared to be. Originally, it wasn't until chapter 5 that the 'epic fantasy' narrative truly began to be called into question, and chapter 6 would have been where the questions truly came into the forefront of the plot. One thing I wanted to do with the revision was introduce some of these questions into the story earlier, make it clear at an earlier point that the plot here isn't quite as simple as it initially appears.**

 **Oh, I also changed the music I used for the battle. I initially used a different track from _NieR: Automata_ , which at that time wasn't out yet. The track I used, a shortened version of the track 'Possessed by Disease' from the full game, was featured in one of the first trailers, and ended up being (in my opinion) a standout among an already amazing soundtrack. But as good as it is, I feel that 'Birth of a Wish' is a better fit for this particular battle, so I used it instead.**

 **Oh, and on a different note, this chapter has an instance where what I discussed at the start about the idea of 'nominal importance' comes it. Tias, the kappa mentioned by Nitori and Liora, does not appear in this story at all, but that bit with Nitori interjecting to choose who they have make the parts wouldn't really work as well if I didn't use a name. Toshu, a farmer in the village, appears in this chapter as well, but he's a strictly minor character, and his purpose here was solely to see the unidentified individual watching the battle and report it to Kiro. He may show up again in the future as just another member of Kiro's group, but either way he'll remain a very minor character.**

 **Anyways, that's really all I have to say about this chapter. How about what you have to say? Returning readers, how are you finding this version of the story compared to the original, and new readers, you can't really remark on the changes, but what are your thoughts on the story just in and of itself?**


	5. Chapter 4: Relations

**Chapter 4  
** _Relations_

"On a different topic," Kanako said, "how were things in the village?"

"Better than they could have been," Sanae said. "There's growing hostility towards youkai, but they haven't started kicking friendly youkai out yet. Tensions are high, though, but then of course they are. Can't unite if you're not divided, can you? The villagers are still accepting of us, though; their growing distrust of youkai doesn't extend to the divine."

"That's good, at least. And you were going to stop by the mansion, too, right?"

"I did, yes. Found a magician there, Liri. She's looking into the seals, too; she said she stumbled upon one last week. Didn't break it, though, which was smart, even if it's likely to mean little in the end. Anyways, we agreed to share anything we learned, so I left her there and proceeded to the village."

"Where you assisted in thwarting the attack and learned of Mephilia."

"Yeah," Sanae said, "and we already talked about that. Anyways, how'd things go here today? Anything I should know about?"

"A couple things," Kanako said. "First, Nitori paid us a visit. Said her new optical camouflage unit is nearing completion, but that the last parts she needs are in the underground reactor and it'll take a while to make more. She's got a colleague starting on that – and another producing enough cameras and projectors for multiple systems – and in the meantime, I went ahead and cleared her to take some of the spares from the plant; she said she and her partner, Liora, would head down tomorrow."

"That's good," Sanae said. "Sounds like at least a few units should be ready soon, then. We can use them to conceal some of the youkai villges, places that can't defend themselves all that well, so we don't have to worry about them. Defense will be easier with fewer places to worry about."

"Certainly true," Kanako said. "Unfortunately, the other piece of news isn't so good. We received a report from the tengu; one of their scouts found the dead bodies of fairies."

"Dead fairies," Sanae said. "Those die all the time; I'm not sure I understand why that deserves- wait, she found their _bodies_ , you said. Fairies disappear when they die, though."

"Yes," Kanako said. "Their bodies vanish because their spirits are resurrected in new ones. Which means that these fairies didn't resurrect. This, it would seem, is evidence that the Twisted can kill – truly _kill_ – fairies."

Sanae just sighed. "Of course they can. Probably any immortals, not just fairies." Then, muttering to herself, "Wouldn't be enough of a threat otherwise, would it?" And then, aloud, "Well, unfortunately, fairies are fairies. We'll aid them when we can, of course, but they're everywhere. And, of course, only a select few are even smart enough to know what danger is. There's no way we'll be able to place them under any sort of protection."

"Unfortunate, but true. But we will do everything we can, Sanae. For them and for everyone else in Gensokyo. Don't forget that."

"I know," Sanae said. "I know." Then, "Well, I'm tired and hungry. I'm going to have some dinner and go to bed."

"A good idea, I think," Kanako said. "Rest up so you can do more work tomorrow."

"Yeah," Sanae said. "Rest up." _Because soon, there won't be time to rest._

* * *

The next day found Liri, once again, in the library of Voile. But this time, instead of searching the shelves, she went straight to Patchouli. "Ah, Liri," Patchouli said. "I have something for you. Sanae visited again yesterday, just after you left."

"Oh?" Liri said. "She found something already?"

"Less 'found' and more 'stumbled upon'. And she's not sure how much of it is correct. Apparently some of it doesn't match up with her previous information. Here." She handed Liri a small stack of paper. "I had Koa transcribe our conversation."

"Thank you," Liri said. "I'll take a look at it, but first I have something to ask you about. Would I be correct in assuming some of the tengu papers are delivered here?"

"Indeed you would. Aya in particular throws hers around everywhere, regardless of who truly wants it. Although Remilia actually enjoys that one. Apparently she finds Aya's... 'style' amusing. I don't care for it, myself, and I wouldn't expect you to, either."

"That's normally true. Especially for Aya; if I _did_ want such information, I'd get it from a source that's actually accurate. But for what I'm looking for, the Bunbunmaru may actually be the best source."

"Oh? Unless you're looking for unfounded accusations, I fail to see what use Aya's... 'reporting' could be."

"She deals in speculation and rumor," Liri said, "and rumor happens to be exactly what I'm looking for."

Patchouli chuckled. "Well, you've picked a fine resource, then. But you aren't the type to care about rumor and speculation. Why the sudden interest?"

"Sanae said there are probably more places like the one I found. I've failed to find any information here, even the smallest hint, so I've decided to search for these other locations. The problem is that I don't have any clues as to their location. I do know, however, that the cave my friend found appeared literally overnight. So there's a pretty decent chance the same will be true of any other locations."

"And something like that is bound to be a topic of speculation. Yes, that makes sense. There's certainly no guarantee such a thing would make it into the Bunbunmaru or any of the other tengu papers, but there's enough of a chance that it's worth looking. I'll have Koa ask Sakuya to bring the paper here once Remilia's finished with it."

"Thank you," Liri said.

* * *

Nitori and Liora landed next to the entrance to the underground. Not the main entrance, the 'Fantastic Wind Hole' that led to the oni's city, but rather the newer one, leading directly to the Underground Nuclear Plant. "That," Liora said, "is a big hole."

"Suwako made it," Nitori said. "It leads straight to the plant. Gives us a direct route. You've never been here before, then."

"Never had a reason to come. No need for optics here."

"The downside of specialization," Nitori said. "A specialist is useless outside her specialty. If optics aren't involved, there's nothing you can do. Although the upside is that, while you may not be of use anywhere else, you're better even than me at the one area you specialize in."

"Gee, thanks."

Nitori seemed oblivious to the sarcasm. "You're welcome. Now come on, let's get moving. If we're quick, there may be enough time to modify the prototype and test it today."

"All right," Liora said. "You've been here before, so lead the way."

* * *

Yesterday, Rumia had gone into the cave. Now, someone else came out. She looked much like an adult version of Rumia might, though there were certainly differences. She carried herself differently, for one. But perhaps the most significant change was the absence of Rumia's signature ribbon.

As she emerged from the cave, the woman took a look around. _It's been a long time since I've seen the world like this. Of course, it's been a long time since_ I _did anything._ Or maybe it hadn't been; she really wasn't sure where she ended and Rumia began, if there even was such a point. But she could wonder about that later. Right now, she had work to do. _Five points. Five locations spread throughout Gensokyo._ She would have to visit all five. And she didn't know where they were. Well, not exactly, anyways, but given the geometry involved, she knew which areas to search in, and as she approached each point, she would be able to sense it. So it wouldn't be too hard to find them.

She took to the air, heading for the first area.

* * *

"Okay," Wriggle said, "this is getting ridiculous. Where the heck is Cirno?"

Wriggle, Mystia, and Daiyousei had gathered at Mystia's stand in the forest, one of their usual meeting places, but Cirno was nowhere to be seen. Of course, the ice fairy was never known for her punctuality, but she was rarely _this_ late.

"I don't know," Mystia said, "but at least she's a fairy. Unlike Rumia, we know Cirno'll be okay. Even if something kills her, she'll just pop right back up a bit later."

"Still," Daiyousei said, "she knew we'd be here, and it's not like her to blow us off. I don't know, maybe she did get into a fight and get the crap knocked out of her. Or maybe- wait, I think I see her."

The other two turned to look, and sure enough, Cirno was in sight and heading towards them. But she wasn't alone. The ice fairy was being pursued by three others, exchanging fire with them as she flew towards the stand.

Wriggle sighed. "Typical. Should've known she'd gone to piss off those three again. Don't know why she's leading them on a chase, but let's get in there and take them out. Get this over with quickly so we can get back to looking for Rumia."

The others nodded and spread out as they approached. Cirno's opponents were the fairy trio of Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire. Cirno was actually strong enough to beat the three of them, but they were smarter, and after a couple losses had adjusted their tactics. Their 'teamwork' had at first just been all three of them attacking the same target, but now they'd actually learned to work together effectively, and though Cirno still won more often than not, the trio was emerging victorious more and more often. But Cirno still insisted on charging at them head-on by herself; what she was doing now was highly unusual for her. But they could think about that later; right now, the task was to take the trio out so they could get back to finding Rumia.

The fight didn't last long; the fairies were already somewhat worn out from fighting Cirno, and their attention being focused entirely on the ice fairy made getting behind them unnoticed a simple task. Wriggle struck first, delivering a diving kick to Star's head that sent her careening towards the ground. Daiyousei began trading fire with Luna as Mystia dove at Sunny, slashing at her. Then both of them were hit from above by blocks of ice. Mystia was only targeted once, but Cirno's ice kept hitting Sunny until she was on the ground next to Star. Then Wriggle landed a kick on Luna, knocking her down next to the other two. Mystia went into a dive, only to bestopped by a sheet of ice as Cirno landed next to the dazed fairies. "Don't kill them!"

Wriggle, Mystia, and Daiyousei landed around the fairy trio. "Why not?" Wriggle said. "We need to get this over with so we can get back to finding Rumia."

"But that's it!" Cirno said. "They're going to help us!"

Sunny pushed herself off the ground. "And why would we do that?"

"We beat you, so you have to do what we say!"

The other two fairies got up as well. "Yeah," Star said, "but only 'cause you cheated! You only beat us because these three helped you!"

Wriggle laughed at that. "So you're allowed to have help, but she's not? Nice logic there."

"Shut up!" Sunny said. "You're not a part of this anyways! Cirno's supposed to fight us alone! She only won because you cheated!"

"No way!" Cirno said. "I can beat you with both hands tied behind my back!"

"Then why'd you need help?"

"Because I'm the strongest, not the... taking prisoners-est! If I killed you again, you couldn't help. Because you'd be dead. And I'd have to wait until you came back and try again."

"Why don't you, then, huh? Or are you too afraid you can't win now that you've already used up your ambush?"

"To be fair," Daiyousei said, "she didn't tell us a thing. We only helped fight you so we could get back to finding Rumia sooner."

"And now we'll find her even faster," Cirno said, "because instead of four people looking, we have... um... four and three... that's... that's..."

Wriggle's hand met her face. "Please don't try to do math."

"Well, it doesn't matter. We have more people, so we can look in more places!"

There was silence for a bit, and then Mystia spoke. "Wait, that's the only reason you brought them into this? To have more people looking?"

"Yeah! Duh!"

"You brought in a group including someone who can _sense the locations of nearby people_ , and all you'd thought of is just increasing our numbers?"

There were a couple seconds of silence from Cirno.. "Oh... um... yeah, that's... Star can sense her, that's totally what I planned. You figured it out!"

Now it was Mystia's turn to facepalm. "You're an idiot, Cirno."

"Hey!"

"Okay," Wriggle said, "it sounds like we should just hang out and wait for Rumia to come and watch us like she's been doing, then when she does, Star tells us and we surround her and make her tell us what she's been doing."

"Yeah, that's it," Cirno said. "That's the plan."

"Oh, sure," Mystia said, "'cause you're _totally_ capable of coming up with a good plan."

"Hey! I'll have you know that coming up with a plan is easy for someone of my genious!"

"...Did you just _say_ 'geni _ous_ '?"

Daiyousei just sighed to herself as she watched all of this. _Well, I guess this counts as 'hanging out'. Hopefully Rumia'll show up soon and we can figure out just what's going on with her. And,_ her train of thought continued, _why she seems so much less interested in the others than she is in me._

* * *

 _This is the place, then?_ Sanae thought as she landed. She knocked on the door of the shop, to which the response was, "Come in!"

As Sanae entered the shop, the kappa looked up from her equipment. "How can I help- ah, Lady Kochiya! What're you doing- I-I mean, what brings you here? Oh, wait, I should introduce myself." She gave a bow. "Takeri Nelkishi, at your service. What can I do for you, Lady Kochiya?"

Sanae suppressed the urge to laugh. "I understand you're assisting in production of Kawashiro's new optical camouflage system; is that correct?"

"I don't know how much I'm helping- well, no, you said 'assisting in production'. Yeah, I think that's the right way to put it, actually. Yeah, I'm making the optical components." Takeri gestured to her rather complex-looking machinery. "As you can see, I'm set up for fairly quick production."

"I have no idea what any of that is, actually," Sanae said, "so I'll just take your word for it."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"It's not a problem. So, then, I assume you're involved because of how quickly you can make the needed components?"

"That's part of it," Takeri said. "The other part is trust, both in my abilities and in me as a person. I was actually an apprentice of hers, you know. She knows me well enough to trust me with her designs. In order to modify my equipment to produce her designs, she gave me all the information I'd need to steal them. It's 'cause she knows I won't."

"I see," Sanae said. "So, then, should I assume things are going well?"

"Certainly. By the time Liora and Nitori get the thing working, I'll have more than enough projectors for as many systems as they need."

"That's good. I want camouflage systems up and running as soon as possible."

"Well, I'm not sure how quickly they'll be able to come up with the other parts, but if production _does_ hit bottleneck, it won't be because of me."

"That's good to hear," Sanae said. "Oh, and while I'm here, let's discuss the issue of payment. I don't expect the components you're making to come for free, after all."

"I'm glad to hear it," Takeri said. "I do need to make a living here, after all. I can give you a bulk rate, though. Hmm..." Takeri walked over to a desk and started going through papers and writing things down. "My normal rate is... but with the changes... then add the..."

Sanae let her work. She knew many of the kappa and tengu would be willing to provide services for the shrine without payment, but she insisted on paying anyways. People did, after all, need to make a living. And besides, why bother collecting donations if the shrine wasn't going to make use of the money?

When Takeri finished her calculations, Sanae took a quick look at the result. "That seems a more than fair price," she said, although if she were to be honest, she didn't truly know what such things usually cost. Still, the figure looked reasonable, and it was easily within the shrine's means. "All right, then. With that settled, I'll be on my way."

"Got it. I'll let you know if I run into any issues."

"Thanks," Sanae said as she exited the shop. "I appreciate it."

* * *

The kappa engineers at the Underground Nuclear Plant were not particularly pleased with the idea of giving up so many of their spare parts, but the order came direct from the Moriya Shrine, so they complied. But that didn't mean they were happy about it.

"You're taking half-a-dozen of our spares with you," one of the kappa said as Liora and Nitori were led into the storage area. "I hope you realize what that means for us."

"That's half your supply," Liora said. "You'll notice that still leaves you with six."

"And what if we need more than that?"

"If that was likely, we wouldn't have been authorized to take as many."

"Yeah? And what if you break them? You probably will, too; you have no idea how to handle them properly, do you?"

"I know they're not so fragile as to break from a few bumps, or from being handled 'the wrong way'."

"See, that's exactly the kind of attitude that gets things broken. You have no idea what you're doing, but you think you do."

"...Really?" Liora said. "That's what you're going with? Seriously, I'll just be transporting them. I don't think I'll screw that up."

"You will if you don't know how to-"

"Hey!" Nitori said. "Calm down! I'll carry them, all right? She may not know how to handle equipment like this, but I do, and you know it. I'm the smarter one; I know how to make sure they don't get damaged. All right?"

"How are you going to carry it all yourself?"

"Why are you even asking that? You know our packs are bigger on the inside! Now just leave us to this. I'll make sure nothing gets damaged, all right?"

"...Fine," the kappa said. "I guess that's okay. Whatever, just take what you're here for and get out." And then she left the two of them alone in the storage room.

"...Well, then," Liora said after a moment. "Well, Nitori, I... _think_ you were trying to help, so thanks, I guess."

"Not a problem," Nitori said. "Obviously she just forgot about me when she saw you. They know who I am down here. You may not have any idea what you're doing, but I do, and they know it. I'll take the spares in my pack; that way we know you won't damage them."

"...Right. That works."

"Yeah, I'm the smart one here. Let me take care of it."

 _Good lord, woman, you're just completely oblivious to your own attitude, aren't you?_ "Right. Well, come on, then. Let's load them up."

* * *

Sirena came up beside Kiro as he stood near the edge of the village, watching as several people headed out towards the forest. "Heading off for today's hunt, are they?"

"Yeah," Kiro said. "They think they've identified the youkai responsible for the two farmers who went missing a few days ago."

"That's good. But... well, what happens if they run into whoever was behind yesterday's attack?"

"We still don't know for sure that any single youkai _was_ behind it, Ren. You and Hoshu saw someone watching the fight; that's all we know right now. Yeah, she could've been behind it, but maybe she was just a youkai looking to grab someone, and she got distracted when she caught sight of the battle or something like that?"

"Do you really think that?"

"I don't know what I think right now," Kiro admitted. "There's plenty of dangerous youkai out there, but none of them come after the village directly. Maybe it's finally happening, and maybe it's not. And remember, we don't know what those... things, the things that attacked, actually were."

"Harui thinks a youkai made them, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, but she thinks they're behind everything. Sure, it's possible a youkai made them, but we don't _know_. We don't really know anything at this point. That's what worries me."

"The unknown," Sirena said. "You're hardly the only one who's ever been afraid of what might be out there. I think everybody worries about the unknown to some extent."

"True. Still, though. It's concerning."

"That it is. But the hunters are going to be keeping alert, right?"

"Yeah. And to answer your original question, if some individual youkai _is_ responsible for the attack and they run into her, well, they know when they're outmatched, and they've got a few tricks to help themselves get away."

"That's good," Sirena said. "They're good hunters, and good people, too. I'd hate to lose them."

"That makes two of us, Ren. That makes two of us."

Liora and Nitori emerged from the underground and started for the mountain, but it wasn't even a minute later that the two of them caught sight of a group of Twisted. "Uh-oh," Nitori said. "We've got incoming."

"I see them," Liora said. "Five Twisted, in the air and heading right for us."

"Right in our path, too. This could be a problem. I don't want to risk damage to the parts we picked up, but they're moving quickly enough that evasion will be problematic."

"Then it's a fight."

"I just told you I don't want to risk damage to the parts we got."

 _Really, Nitori? Jeez, for someone who's so damn 'smart', you sure can miss the obvious, can't you?_ "Then don't. There's only five of them. I can handle it."

"By yourself?"

"You know I'm good in a fight, Nitori." _Even if you don't think I'm good for anything else outside of optics._ "I can handle it."

"...You do know how to handle yourself in a fight," Nitori said. "I still don't like risking you, though. I might have trouble with the camouflage system without an optics expert."

 _Gee, so glad you care._ "I'll be fine," Liora said.

"But what if you-"

 _Gah!_ "If I die, then go to Takeri, okay? Jeez! Just get the parts back to your shop, okay? I'll meet you there!"

"All right. I guess you're less irreplaceable, anyways."

 _Oh, for- really?_ "Yeah, you're the smart one here, I know. Jut get moving already!"

"All right," Nitori said.

Nitori flew off sideways, circling wide around the Twisted as Liora approached them head-on, drawing their attention. _Just five of them,_ she thought as she gave the mental command to bring her combat equipment online. _Should be simple._

Ordinarily, Liora wouldn't have brought her combat equipment for a trip such as this one, but the current situation was far from ordinary. With Twisted all over the place, anyone leaving the village was advised to be prepared for battle, and that advice had just proved its worth. Liora's equipment came online, sending a brief systems readout directly into her eye. _Everything's functional. Good._

Liora gave her current armament a quick mental review. The most basic weapon she had was a magicannon, a gun fueled by its wielder's power. Other weapons were limited by their ammunition or power supplies; a magicannon was limited only by the energy of its wielder. Given the abundance of fast-moving targets in Gensokyo, Liora had opted for a rapid-fire model, one less focused on pinpoint accuracy or high-power individual shots and more on firing as quickly as possible. This made the shots weak, but Liora had other options for more resilient targets. For tougher but slower targets, she had a bomb launcher, but without tracking capabilities, the bombs were of little use against faster targets. Her missiles, on the other hand, did have tracking capability, though they didn't pack quite as much punch as the bombs. And for close-range combat, she had a pair of swords. Liora was no swordswoman, but that didn't matter; Liora's combat processor could take her desired moves and feed her instructions, and her combat package included a sort of framework to deploy around her arms that the processor could use to help direct her movements. Aside from the missile launcher, each weapon could be deployed in either hand; the launcher, which mounted itself on her shoulder, could be used regardless of which other weapons were deployed. It was hardly a soldier's loadout, but it would be more than enough for the task at hand.

A kappa's pack didn't look anywhere near large enough to hold that much equipment, let alone ammunition for the missile and bomb launchers, but this was Gensokyo; there were quite a few ways to make something bigger on the inside. The combination of magic and kappa technology meant that a kappa's pack could hold all the weaponry and equipment she needed and still have room to store other things.

Liora's combat processor was matched to her mind, allowing her to control it mentally by directing her thoughts at it. [ _Activate missiles._ ]

The missile targeting system activated, sending its display directly to Liora's eyes. She directed the targeting reticule over the Twisted, marking all five as targets, and a message blinked at the top of the display. **Warning: target trace erratic. Accuracy may suffer**. Which she'd expected; Twisted weren't actually _alive_ in any known sense, and as such there were no life signs to detect. They did still have a physical presence, and that could be detected, but not quite as effectively. It wasn't enough of an effect to actually make them more difficult to _detect_ , but precision _tracking was_ affected. Of course, Liora was pretty sure it would still work well enough.

Liora fired the missiles, and they indeed homed in on their targets fairly effectively. Some missed, especially since the flying Twisted that had started appearing were more agile than the land-bound ones, but others struck their targets. But the Twisted kept coming, and Liora switched weapons. [ _Magicannon._ ]

The magicannon deployed from the pack, attaching itself to Liora's left arm. She opened fire on the Twisted as she flew backwards, keeping the distance open between herself and them. Unfortunately for her, though, the blasts didn't seem to be doing much. _Right, time to change tactics._ [ _Swords._ ]

The magicannon was pulled back into the pack as the swords were deployed in each hand, and the framework around Liora's Liora charged the Twisted, optimal moves and proper technique were fed to her through the optical display, and as she executed each move, the framework, under the control of the combat processor, helped to direct her movements for maximum effect. It took a little while – Twisted seemed to generally be fairly durable – but eventually the first enemy fell, and then the second. The remaining three charged her together, but she evaded behind the cover of another missile launch, then singled out one of them and cut through it, which was enough to finish it off, leaving only two more. But then the situation changed. **Warning. Additional hostiles approaching**.

Liora took a quick look at the displayed information. _Shit._ There were two approaching groups of about ten Twisted each. _Way too many to handle by myself, and they're moving at a pretty good pace, so outrunning them won't be easy. Which leaves..._

As Liora continued her fight against the two Twisted currently engaging her, she fed some calculations to her processor, which quickly gave her the results. _Group one's got an angle to intercept me right at the hole, but I'll be able to get into it, and then it's just a chase._ But she had to get moving immediately, so she fired a few more missiles at the Twisted pair, racing away from them as they evaded. They gave chase, but she had at least a little distance on them now.

The way Liora saw it, she only had one option. If she tried to run, the Twisted would follow her, and these ones were moving fast enough that she didn't think she could lose them. She _could_ , however, lead them somewhere, somewhere she'd find enough backup to take out even this many. And the nearest such place was the one she'd just left. The Underground Nuclear Plant. Unfortunately, the angle of approach of one of the groups was such that it would intercept her just as she entered the passage down, but she expected she could deal with that long enough to reach help.

As Liora headed to the passage underground, she gave another command to her system. [ _Contact Underground Nuclear Plant. Emergency identifier._ ] The system, which included communication equipment, obliged, and Liora's call was quickly answered. As expected, since she'd marked it as an emergency.

"I'm here," the kappa on the other end of the call said. "Report."

"This is Liora. I'm heading your way, and I've got Twisted in pursuit!"

"You're under attack? Wait, you were just here to raid our backup supplies, weren't you? How the hell'd you manage to get in trouble so quickly?"

"Bad luck, obviously. Nitori's got the equipment; I'm the bait so she can get away, but there's too many for me to handle, so I'm bringing them to you!"

There was silence on the other end, but only for a moment. "Acknowledged. We'll ready our defenses. Just get here alive."

"Got it," Liora said, and ended the call. _I'll be safe when I get there. I just have to get there first._

* * *

 **Changes:**

 **The first scene with Sanae was edited to account for the new scene at the end of the last chapter.**

 **The beginning of Liora's fight against the Twisted was edited to provide a clearer idea of Liora's weaponry.**

 **Yeah, very little was changed in this chapter. Of course, it's a short chapter, but it's more because none of the things that necessitate more significant changes (such as characters that have been removed or replaced) really showed up in this chapter.**

 **It is indeed a short chapter, but I decided things worked better when divided this way. The next chapter's a more normal length. That next chapter is also the last one from _End Fantasy_ , so everything afterwards will be completely new. I should have it up within the next couple days, then it'll be time or all-new content. I hope I'll see you all there.**


	6. Chapter 5: Anomalies

**Chapter 5  
** _Anomalies_

As Sanae headed down the mountain, bound for where Kasen lived, she was busy in thought. Something was bothering her, had been since she'd spoken with Takeri. But _what_?

Sanae went over their meeting in her mind: introductions, Takeri saying she was set up for quick production, that Liora'd come to her out of trust, the clear respect she had for her mentor, the- _wait_.

Her _mentor_.

 _Oh, shit._

There had been some... oddities, but so far, events had proceeded pretty much as Sanae'd expected based off of her knowledge of the outside world's so-called 'epic fantasy' stories. But now, she remembered another fact about those stories, that someone, usually but not always the 'hero' of the story, usually had some manner of mentor figure.

And the mentor always died.

 _Okay, Sanae, focus. Don't panic; think._ Liora was the mentor figure here, which meant she was in danger. But the mentor's death was usually due to the character sacrificing him/herself in some way, and always happened in the presence of the student. And they weren't together right now, which meant there _should_ still be time. _Still, I should find Liora as soon as possible._ After all, there were those oddities to consider; things might not be happening _precicely_ as expected. Fortunately, although she didn't know where Liora was right at that moment, she _did_ know that Liora and Nitori were picking up spare parts from the reactor today, which gave her a place to check in with first. But before she could reach for her comm unit, she caught sight of a lone figure flying up the mountain, and as the figure came closer, she recognized it as Nitori. _Okay, good, that means they're- wait, why is Nitori alone?_

Nitori came to a halt as Sanae flew over to her. "Ah, Lady Kochiya! I didn't expect- what are you doing here?"

"I was going to see someone," Sanae said. "More importantly, why are you alone? Where's Liora?"

"Fighting," Nitori said. "We got attacked on the way back from the plant. I've got the parts, but those could get damaged in a fight, so she's taking the Twisted on herself."

 _Oh,_ shit _._ "You left her by herself?"

"Yeah. There were just five of them; she can handle that many."

 _Not good not good not good._ "We've got to get to her, now!"

"Why?" Nitori said. "What's happening?"

"She's in danger! We have to go help her!"

"Um, it's just five Twisted. She'll be fine. Besides, if she needs my help, I'm sure she'll contact me."

And then, at that exact moment, Nitori's comm unit chimed.

* * *

 **[BGM: /watch?v=3IvvDVQaxIQ]**

Liora was in the passage to the nuclear plant, but so was the nearer group of Twisted. The two survivors from the group of five she'd first engaged had followed her, and now the first group of ten was there as well. She turned to face them as she flew down, designating targets and firing missiles, but she wasn't aiming to kill. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle a dozen of them, much less the second group of ten that wouldn't be far behind. Fortunately, all she had to do was keep them at bay until she could reach the plant, where she'd find help.

 **Warning: missile ammunition at 25%** _Not good,_ Liora thought as she dismissed the warning. _I've gotta keep firing, keep hitting them and keeping them back, but the magicannon doesn't seem to do shit and the bombs aren't good for something like this._ The bombs had no tracking ability, and while the blasts were large enough that direct hits weren't necessary, any that missed these targets wouldn't hit anything at all; they'd just keep sailing through the air until their flight paths led them to hit the side of the passage- _wait, the side!_

Liora switched to bombs and started launching. She'd appreciate any hits, of course, but misses were acceptable; the bombs flew into the sides of the passage and exploded, blasting free chunks of rock that then tumbled down the shaft. [ _Simultaneous deployment: magicannon_ ] The bomb launcher was already equipped on her left arm, and now the magicannon deployed onto her right. [ _Track debris. Evaluate vulnerability to magicannon and mark destructibility_ ] A Twisted dove at her, but she knocked it back with a missile, the missile launcher being fully contained in her pack and thus usable even with other weapons on both arms.

Highlights around the falling rocks began appearing in Liora's vision, her system evaluating and marking them according to the results. **Red: not destructible with magicannon. Green: Destructible with magicannon. Yellow: Destructable with magicannon only if using overcharge function. Warning: current magicannon model does not support charge functionality; use of charge is likely to damage magicannon.** Which was unfortunate, but Liora had decided to prioritize accuracy and rate of fire, which came with tradeoffs. And, unfortunately, those tradeoffs were proving significant right now, as her magicannon's weaker blasts didn't seem to do much of anything to the Twisted, nor were they, according to her system's evaluations, sufficient to destroy very many of the earthen chunks her bombs were blasting loose, so she'd have to evade them instead. But the Twisted had to deal with them, too, and they didn't have the advantage of Liora's combat software to mark their trajectories.

Liora weaved through the stone rain, trusting her system to warn her of anything outside her field of vision and firing another bomb whenever she had a clear shot. The Twisted weren't as able to evade, and some of them started taking hits from the falling rocks. Others did manage to evade, but doing so slowed them more than it did Liora, who began to pull ahead of them.

And then one of the Twisted hit her dead-on with a blast of energy.

Liora didn't have time to think about the fact that she'd just been hit with something no Twisted had yet shown any ability to do; she had to focus on the now. She got control of herself in time to avoid being knocked into the wall, but she then had to make a sudden dodge to avoid a large rock that went plummeting past her. Then the Twisted fired another blast. Liora dodged this one, but another Twisted came at her from above, slashing with a blade-like arm. Liora tried to back away, but only partially succeeded, the Twisted cutting a gash into her left arm and slicing through a piece of the bomb launcher. Then another energy blast hit her, and this time she was still too close to the wall to avoid being knocked into it. Then another of the Twisted charged into her, further slamming her into the wall. She gave up the damaged bomb launcher in favor of a sword and cut through the Twisted, then dodged around as the one that had cut her came in again, knocking it away with a missile. Her path took her beneath a massive chunk of rock, the largest one yet, but she had more than enough time to get out of its way.

And then the rock blew apart, three Twisted having blasted it in unison.

Liora found herself having to deal with an unexpected shower of rock shards, not to mention several dangerous larger pieces, but she almost managed it. Almost, but then the Twisted began firing blasts at her, and though she dodged the first two, the third hit her, sending her crashing into the largest piece. And then a Twisted charged into her from above at an angle. Liora was knocked downwards into the wall, and fell onto a small ledge right beneath her.

Liora, bloodied and beaten, tried to pick herself up, but couldn't. Her system was warning her of a broken leg, a broken left arm, and quite a few other broken bones. Not to mention the damage to her equipment. **Tracking/targeting system offline. Magicannon structural integrity low; further use will likely result in the weapon's destruction. Bomb launcher offline. Sword guidance system offline.** Liora's weapons all had some degree of damage, and she was injured badly enough that she could barely move. But she wasn't about to give up.

At this point, there were five Twisted left, and Liora waited as they closed in. And then she fired every missile she had left in a single barrage, and although the tracking system was offline, the targets were close enough that they all took hits. In fact, the barrage was enough to finish three of them off, but the other two kept coming. Liora was still able to move her right arm, holding the magicannon, and she aimed it at one of the Twisted, feeding it a strong burst of energy that resulted in a charged blast strong enough to knock it back. But this destroyed the magicannon, so Liora launched it into the Twisted, distracting it long enough that one of the last chunks of falling rock struck it, which was enough to kill it. But there was still one Twisted left, and Liora only had one even partially-functional weapon left.

[ _Sword_ ]

Liora's combat gear was heavily damaged, and could barely deploy just the sword, much less the supporting framework. But though it struggled, it got the sword into Liora's hand in time, and she raised it just as the last Twisted charged in, impaling the creature and finishing it off. Then, her strength spent, she dropped the sword and lay in place, almost motionless, too injured to do anything else. But she'd taken out all twelve Twisted, and aid from the nuclear plant was on its way. They'd be able to get her what treatment she'd need, but even then, a human would have no chance of survival, not with her injuries. She, however, was youkai, and though the kappa weren't exactly the toughest youkai physically, they were enough tougher than humans that Liora would survive.

 **[End BGM]**

And then, barely, she made out the distant forms of the second Twisted group descending through the tunnel. _What the- how the_ fuck _are they that close already? They were at_ least _another couple minutes behind me!_ [ _Check comm systems_ ]

 **Comm systems operational.**

 _Well, at least there's that,_ Liora thought. [ _Contact Underground Nuclear Plant_ ]

The same kappa as before answered the call. "Liora, is that you? What's your status?"

Liora could barely get the words out. "About... three-quarters of the way down. Can't... move. Enemy approaching. Not sure... how they got here this quickly. How... long until..."

"Reiuji's on her way out from the core. She should reach your position in five minutes."

 _Five minutes? Why is it taking so long? Surely she should at least be in the tunnel by now._ "That's... too long." Then Liora cut the connection. [ _Contact Nitori Kawashiro_ ]

It was only a few seconds until Nitori's voice answered. "Liora? Is that you?"

"I... messed up," Liora said, again barely able to get the words out. "I'm... sorry."

"Liora? Liora, what are you talking about?"

 _Not enough time to say much._ "You'll... have to... get Takeri... to take my place. Tell her... tell her goodbye."

"Liora? What are you saying? You think I'll have to finish without you?"

"You... can do it. You're... the 'smart one'... right?"

"Liora? Liora!"

"Good... bye... Nitori."

Liora cut the connection. _This is it, then. Well, I may go out, but like hell I'm going out alone._ [ _Arm all remaining bombs_ ]

 **Warning: bomb launcher offline. Directed action falls under suicide protocol.**

[ _Understood. Activate suicide protocol. Arm all remaining bombs. Detonate upon death_ ]

 **Acknowledged. Suicide protocol active.**

As the Twisted approached, Liora's thoughts turned to Takeri. Her regret, her only real regret, was not telling Takeri the truth. Not being honest with her former student. But then... _Wait, why the hell am I feeling like that? I_ have _told her the truth. I_ always _told her-_

That was Liora's last thought as the Twisted struck.

* * *

"No," Sanae said. "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Come on!" Nitori said. "If she's in trouble, we have to go help!"

"Don't you get it?" Sanae screamed at the kappa. "It's too late! There's nothing we can do! Liora's dead! She's dead because I was too damn _stupid_ to realize this was coming!"

Nitori knew Sanae was right, at least about Liora being dead. She wasn't sure how it'd happened – maybe more Twisted had shown up? - but her call had clearly been one of farewell. But... "No," she said softly.

Sanae was still yelling, mainly at herself, but even so, Nitori's single, soft word got her attention. "What?"

"No," Nitori said. "You didn't get her killed." And then, without saying anything more, she flew off towards the kappa village.

* * *

The kappa Hikari, in the Underground Nuclear Reactor, turned away from her display. "Okay, what the _hell_ was all that?"

"She's dead," another kappa said. "There was a significant explosion in the tunnel shortly after her last call; I'm guessing she detonated her munitions when she heard help wouldn't be there in time."

"Yeah, I _figured_ that, Noriko. The _question_ is why the hell we _couldn't_ get there in time. Reiuji should've been headed up the tunnel just a couple minutes after we notified her of an incoming enemy, so why the hell wasn't she? It does _not_ take that long to ensure reactor stability and get out there."

Noriko was looking over her own display. "I... don't know. Let me bring up the activity logs... yeah, no errors or notifications of any kind, but... well, stability confirmation and auto switch-over took, like, three or four times as long as they should have."

"And why the hell didn't you notice this at the time?"

Noriko was silent for a moment. "I... don't know. Looking at it now, it's obvious, but at the time... it, it just never occurred to me. I... can't explain it. And... what about you? You should have noticed, too, but did you?"

"I... no," Hikari admitted. "For some reason, I didn't. What the _hell_ is going on here?" A pause, then, "Okay, just standing here won't tell us anything." She hit a combination on her console, turning on the address system in the maintenance department. "Maintenance, I need a full systems check in all areas. A _full_ check. That means diagnostics _and_ physical inspection of all components. Yes, I know it's time-consuming, and I know it'll take a few days to check everything, but this is Priority Two, so get on it immediately; anything other than critical maintenance can wait until it's done." She closed the channel and turned to the other kappa in the room, Noriko and two others. "All right, we're not going to just stand around waiting on their results. Kerai, Nerika, I want a digital reconstruction of the incident as soon as possible; get it set up and start running simulations, see if you can isolate whatever anomaly is responsible for this. Noriko, I want all recordings, all data, starting from when Nitori and Liora got here to pick up our spare parts. Get it together and send it to my office."

"Sure thing," Noriko said. "It may help if I know what you're looking for, though."

"I'm not looking for anything. I simply want as much information from that time frame as we have. We may well be dealing with a temporal anomaly here, and none of us know much of anything about that. So I'm going to look over that data, those recordings, see what all is there, and then tomorrow I'm going to consult with an expert."

"Got it. I'll have the information sorted within the hour."

"Good. Okay, you all have your instructions. Let's get to work."

"Yes, Ma'am!" the three kappa replied simultaneously.

* * *

The group had moved into a large clearing in the woods. Cirno and the fairy trio were bickering over some thing or another, Daiyousei was watching them with a look of exasperation, and Wriggle, sitting on a rock at the edge of the clearing, looked up as Mystia came to join her. "Got tired of listening to the idiot squad, huh?"

Mystia sat down beside Wriggle. "There's only so much of that anyone can take. I _really_ hope Rumia shows up soon so we can get rid of those three. We don't need four idiots; just Cirno is enough."

"Having Star around does make things easier, though. We don't have to worry about keeping watch for Rumia; Star'll tell us when someone comes close. And Rumia won't have any reason to think we know she's there, whereas she might if we keep looking around."

"Unless she sees Star."

"Yeah, but Star'll know as soon as she gets close. We'll know she's there before she figures out that we do."

"I guess that's true," Mystia said. "I just hope it happens soon; I think I've had enough fairy to last- wait. Wriggle, do you see that?"

Wriggle followed Mystia's gaze out into the woods. "No, I don't see anything. You've got better eyes, though."

"And I can barely see it, but it looks like a person."

"Let's take a look, then."

Wriggle and Mystia headed into the woods, soon coming to what Mystia had seen, which turned out to be not one person but three, all of them fairies. And all three fairies were motionless, with heavy wounds.

"What the hell?" Wriggle said as she knelt down over one of the fairies. "Um, Mystia? Am I crazy, or do these fairies look... well, dead?"

Mystia was examining another of the bodies. "If these were human or youkai, I'd definitely say they're dead, but..."

"But fairies don't leave bodies when they're killed."

"Then what is this?"

"I don't know," Wriggle said. "Unless... well, I guess the obvious guess is that they _are_ dead. Like, actually dead, not fairy-dead."

"That's not possible."

"I know, but... neither is what we're already seeing here."

"I... guess that's true. But... what could have done this? If these fairies are for-real dead, then how? What killed them?"

"I don't know."

"Yeah, neither do I. Nothing can do that." Mystia paused. _Unless..._ "Wriggle, you don't suppose it was those... _things_ , do you?"

"Like the one that attacked us? That... whatever it was that didn't even seem truly alive? I... I think you may be right. At least, if that's really what happened here, I can't think of anything else that could do it, but we don't know what the hell those things can do. Or even what they are."

"Let's get back to the others," Mystia said. "I _really_ don't like this."

"I know what you mean. All right, let's go."

* * *

Liri had been engaged in her research almost non-stop since discovering the strange cave, but with no results. That, of course, was why she'd decided to try and find the other locations Sanae believed existed, but she didn't have any knowledge of where to start looking. Hopefully that would change – if the other locations also appeared suddenly, surely Aya or one of the other tengu journalists would at least mention it – but until then, she had nothing to go on. Sure, she could search all of Gensokyo herself, but that was not an appealing prospect. So she decided to wait at least a day or two, and since she didn't seem to have any other worthwhile avenues to pursue, she'd decided to take a break from her research and make another visit to the Myouren Temple.

This time, it wasn't Byakuren herself that Liri spoke to, but one of her disciples, the tiger youkai Shou Toramaru. "I've definitely been fully occupied since my last visit," Liri was saying, "but... I'm not sure it's in a helpful way. You might even call it an obsession. I found... something, something I can't explain, and ever since, I've been trying to find answers."

"I can't say that I see anything wrong with that," Shou said, "at least not in regards to finding your place in the world. You may need to control your obsession, if that's indeed what it is, but what you're doing isn't harmful in and of itself. I mean, this is hardly the first time you've researched something intently, is it? If nothing else, I expect you've devoted significant time and effort to your magic; I understand you're fairly capable as a magician."

"That's different. That's something I've been doing my whole life. But this... this only started recently, after my first visit here. And... when I finally took a break from my work today, I... I started to wonder if I was latching onto this in place of the purpose I don't have."

"And what if you are?"

"Well... um..."

"In this world," Shou said, "youkai are no longer born with a purpose. And there's nothing wrong with not having a purpose. Heck, humans have always been born without a purpose, and they've done just fine. But there's nothing wrong with having a purpose, either."

"But what if this isn't a purpose? What if I'm just trying to _feel_ like I have one?"

"If something makes you feel like you have a purpose," Shou said, "then maybe you've found your purpose. Or maybe not. Maybe you're right, and you are just trying desperately to feel like you have a purpose but aren't actually finding one. But, well, here's a question for you: do you want to stop what you're currently doing?"

"Well... no," Liri said. "I saw something that's long been thought impossible, and I want to know how it could be done. I want to know what the things I found actually are."

"Then it doesn't matter if it becomes your 'purpose' or not," Shou said. "Don't worry about finding a purpose. If you've found something you want to do, something that captures your interest as strongly as this seems to've, then do it. What's important is finding something that you find satisfying, whether it's truly a 'purpose' or not."

* * *

 _Born without a purpose. A laughable notion. It turns out that we're all held firmly in fate's grasp. Or_ were _, perhaps. Hopefully. Or maybe hopefully not. After all, we and our world have survived this long; can we be sure we would have without fate's grip on us? But then without fate, would any of the dangers we've faced have happened in the first place?_

 _Someone asked me about fate the other day, and what did I tell her? I lied. I said that nothing binds us to a specific course of action or outcome, that even if events are predisposed towards a specific outcome we can change this through our actions. You know, the kind of thing most people believe about fate. All bullshit, of course. Isn't true, never was. Fate was never a path, able to be followed or deviated from. It was a track, rigid and set. And maybe we've left the track now. Or maybe we haven't. Couldn't have. Because there's no way to escape it, but if not, then what_ was _done? S_ omething _was done; that much there's no doubt of. But if not escaping fate, then what?_

 _I wandered through the forest later that day, as I do most days. It's not like a town or village, though there are villages within it. But the forest itself, the population is spread all throughout. I know I'll never meet all of the forest youkai, but I've encountered more than enough to justify the time I spend there. That day, I came across a youkai at the abandoned lamprey stand; she had taken it over and was attempting to replicate Mystia's success. I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner, to be honest; it was fairly popular, and Mystia's... absence presents an opportunity for someone else to fill the gap she left._

 _I walked over to the stand. "I was wondering when someone would try to take Mystia's place."_

" _Yeah, she left a hole behind, didn't she? I'm trying to fill it, but... well, I can catch a lot of different animals, but I'm having trouble getting the hang of cooking them."_

" _I see." I looked her over; an avian youkai, certainly, but not a night sparrow like Mystia. Some sort of hawk, I concluded._

" _Yeah, turns out Mystia just made it_ look _easy. Still, I'm determined to get it right." Then, "Wait, aren't you-"_

" _I am," I said. I wasn't surprised that she recognized me; I'm very well-known by now. Only the humans don't know who I am, and even they believe that they do. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that they know who I_ am _but not who I_ was _. "I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to aid you, though; I'm not much for cooking, either, and this is not something deserving of more direct intervention."_

" _Oh, I know," the youkai said. "There is something you can do for me, though. Not yet, but once I'm ready, once I can actually cook worth something, I'll need to get the word out. And what better way to do that then to make my food available at a major event?"_

" _You're talking about a festival."_

" _Yeah. Once I'm ready to go, I'd like to ask for such an opportunity."_

" _I see no reason we couldn't do that," I told her, "although only if what you make meets with our approval. We only want the best for such occasions, after all."_

" _But once you agree I'm good enough, you'll let me? Sounds fair. Thank you."_

" _Think nothing of it. If you become good enough to meet with our approval, you'll have earned it."_

" _You're giving me the chance, though. That's enough to be thankful for. I've been worried that even if I did get good enough, I'd never get enough attention to make this work, but I guess fate decided to cut me a break."_

 _Ah, yes, 'fate'. "I'm not sure fate had anything to do with it. Looks to me like it's just a little luck."_

" _Maybe there's no difference. I've often wondered about that, you know. What is fate, anyways?"_

 _And so I lied. I hid the truth. "I think of fate as a path. You can follow it, go where it leads you, or you can veer from it, forge your own path. It's easier to follow the path, but if you don't like where it leads you, leave it. It may take some effort, but you don't have to go where it leads."_

 _A lie, of course. But did I choose to lie, or did fate dictate that action? That, I do not know._

* * *

The fairies' bickering stopped when the so-far-silent Star spoke up. "Um, girls? Something's coming."

"Riiiiight," Cirno said. "You're just trying to distract us so you can run, aren't you?"

"Or she's doing what she's here for," Daiyousei said.

"Come on, Dai, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one here. She's clearly trying to trick us."

"I'm not," Star said, "and there's something seriously wrong here. Whatever I'm sensing, it's not a person. It... I don't think it's natural at all."

Cirno just scoffed at this, but Wriggle and Mystia immediately looked over at each other. "Wriggle," Mystia said, "do you think it's..."

"I hope not, but..." Wriggle turned back towards the others. "Fine, Cirno, you can stay here if you want. Mystia and I'll go check it out."

"Okay, yeah," Cirno said, "that works. You look, and Dai and I'll keep an eye on these three."

"It's over that way," Star said, pointing to the far side of the clearing. "Be careful, you two. I'm serious; whatever's coming isn't normal."

"Right," Wriggle said. "Come on, Mystia."

Wriggle and Mystia headed over to the other side of the clearing, and within a few seconds, they saw exactly what they were afraid they would. There were three of the creatures, in the air and coming towards them. _And the four of us had enough trouble with just one,_ Mystia thought. _Even if the trio helps, I don't think we can take three._ So she called back to the fairies. "RUN!"

 **[BGM: /watch?v=CDpzSGwM3-Y]**

Cirno and Daiyousei turned at the sound of Mystia's voice, and as they did, Sunny, with Luna and Star behind her, made a break for the woods. She hadn't thought to use her power to conceal them, though, and Cirno caught sight of them out of the corner of her eye. "Hey!"

One of the creatures flew at Mystia, but Wriggle intercepted it, knocking it away with a diving kick. Another came in, slashing with a blade-like arm, but Mystia evaded and slashed through it, and then Wriggle knocked that one away, too, sending it flying into the third. "Come on," the firefly youkai said, "let's go!"

And then Daiyousei's voice. "Um, we have a problem!"

Mystia took a quick look back to see Cirno fighting Sunny, Luna, and Star. _Oh, shit._

One of the creatures came in, and Mystia shot up over it, launching a blast of energy at it. "Cirno, _RUN!_ "

"Why would I do that?" Cirno called back. "I'm the strongest! I'll never lose!"

"Not good," Mystia said. "Wriggle, we can't run yet! Not while they're fighting!"

Wriggle'd noticed the warring fairies, too. "Yeah, but if we focus on them, try to stop the fight, these things'll have an easy time with us!"

"Then we'll just have to hold the things off. Dai, get over here!"

One of the creatures came at Wriggle, but she dodged to the side and kicked it away. The other two came in together, and Wriggle sped away to the side, firing energy blasts at them. Mystia dashed up behind one and slashed through it, then backed off before it could retaliate. The third creature charged her, and she turned her attention to it.

Daiyousei blinked in in front of one of the two targeting Wriggle, blasted it in the face, then teleported away. Wriggle took advantage of this to move in and knock it into the ground with a diving kick, evading the other one as she did so.

"Nice, Dai," Mystia said as she fired a barrage at the creature attacking her, "but I didn't call you over here to help us. I didn't want Cirno to hear me say this, because I need you to kill her."

"Wait," Dai said, "what?! Why do you want-"

"Because she won't run. Even if she beats the trio, she'll just attack these things next, and we all know she won't win. Even all of us together probably won't win."

"Why not just let her?"

Mystia evaded an attack and cut into the creature before backing off again. "We saw dead fairies in the woods. Really dead; the bodies were just lying there. We think these things can kill fairies for real."

"That's impossible," Daiyousei said. "We don't die; we always come back. Nothing can-"

"Don't question!" Wriggle said as she weaved through the attacks of the creatures after her. "Just do it!"

Mystia flew over and around her attacker while firing at it. "If you do it, she'll resurrect later like normal. So get in there and do it; I don't know how much longer we can hold these things off for."

"...All right," Dai said, and flew back towards Cirno. "I'll take her out as quickly as I can."

Wriggle flew away from the creatures' next attack, hitting them with energy blasts. "Right, then. Good plan. Now we've just gotta stay alive long enough for it to work."

Sunny, Luna, and Star attacked Cirno with a well-coordinated barrage of shots. Cirno focused her power into a small blast of intense cold in front of her. The blast froze the bullets within its small area, and the cold spread through them to other nearby bullets, creating a chain reaction in the couple seconds the chill lasted before the frozen bullets all shattered, leaving a wide opening in the oncoming barrage. Sunny's fireball shots were resistant to the effect and thus remained unfrozen, but with the other shots cleared, Cirno easily dodged them while returning fire, sending a spray of icicle shots at Sunny.

Luna flew above Cirno in an arc, firing a continuous spray of shots. As the curtain of bullets approached, Cirno hit it with another freeze blast. But Star had followed just behind Luna, firing lasers in the same arc. The lasers broke paths through the frozen shots, blasting a spray of shards at Cirno. Cirno managed to evade the worst of it, though she did sustain a few cuts. "Hey! Not fair!"

Daiyousei blinked in in front of Sunny and opened fire, forcing the sun fairy to evade. Sunny returned fire, but Dai had already teleported away, blinking in behind Sunny and continuing the attack. "Cirno, let's go! We can't fight both these three and those three creatures! Hell, we can't even take the three creatures! We could barely handle one!"

"You can run if you want," Cirno said. "I won't run, and I won't lose!"

 _Dammit, Cirno,_ Daiyousei thought, _this is_ not _a good time for your 'strongest' thing. Right, I'll have to do this Mystia's way._ She flew into battle against the fairy trio alongside Cirno. _If I help Cirno, I can catch her off-guard. Just gotta wait for my chance, because I'll only have the one shot at this._

Two of the creatures attacked Wriggle from opposite sides, but Mystia slammed into one of them, knocking it away and making it easier for Wriggle to evade. The third one came in after her, but Wriggle, the second one still coming at her, flipped over it and kicked it into the second one.

A creature moved in and attacked. Wriggle dodged and fired on it. Mystia slashed into it from behind as she flew past while evading the other two. Sunny sent more fireball shots at Cirno, in conjunction with bullets from Luna and lasers from Star. Daiyousei attacked Star from behind, disrupting the pattern and giving Cirno and opening to evade and fire ice blasts as the trio. A strike, an evasion with return fire, a strike, a dodge and counter, more shots, evasion of simultaneous attacks, one enemy knocked into another, freeze blast, attack, dodge, coordinated fire, charge and attack, retreat and fire, Cirno not backing down against the trio while Daiyousei waited for her chance and Wriggle and Mystia doing everything they could to keep the creatures at bay.

But they couldn't do enough.

Wriggle messed up a dodge, not noticing another creature coming in from behind. Her evasion took her directly into the second creature's path, and though she tried to correct for her mistake, it wasn't enough, and the creature's slash cut a deep gash into her side. Mystia tried to move in to help, but the third creature was in her way, and getting around it took a few seconds, long enough for the first creature to move in and connect with a slash of its own, cutting through Wriggle's leg. Mystia dove in, knocking that one away, but the other one slashed with its bladed arm right through Wriggle's neck, not deep enough to sever her head but more than deep enough that it was a fatal blow.

 **[End BGM]**

There was nothing Mystia could do as the creature landed its fatal strike. " _WRIGGLE!_ "

Mystia's anguished scream got the attention of Cirno and the trio, who all glanced in her direction. Daiyousei, however, was too focused on her task to notice, and she saw her chance and took it, diving into the momentarily-distracted Cirno from above and carrying her down, crushing her head against a rock. Cirno's body vanished, as was supposed to happen when a fairy died, and Dai called out to the trio. "Run!" Then she looked back, and she saw Wriggle's body fall. And then she ran.

Mystia pushed through her shock, pulling back as all three creatures turned to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed all four fairies fleeing into the forest, and knowing she couldn't hope to survive, she turned and ran herself. But the creatures pursued, and these ones were fast enough that she couldn't shake them.

The course of Mystia's desperate flight eventually took her to the lake. Even in her current panic, she realized that if she could make it across the lake, to the mansion on the other side, she might find aid. But instead, as she approached the lake, she heard a voice call out. "Get them over the water!"

Mystia's course did take her over the lake, but the creatures didn't follow. They stopped just on the shore, as though they were unwilling to pass over the water. "They've learned," the voice said. "Oh, well. They're close enough. Hey, move higher a bit!"

The water suddenly gathered into a massive wave. Mystia rose over the wave, which crashed into the shore at unnatural speed, engulfing the creatures and somehow pulling them back into the lake. And then, as Mystia watched, the creatures, still visible just below the water's surface, were ripped into pieces by some unseen force.

"There we go. Are you all right?"

Mystia looked in the direction of the voice, and saw a woman's form breaking the surface. And... _Is that a mermaid? Well, I guess Dai has said the lake has them._ "Um, I... I..."

"Well," the woman said, "you look okay."

"I... um, yeah, they didn't hurt me, but... well, um, thank you. I..."

"You're welcome. I've been taking out as many of those things as I can. I may be weak out of the water, but within it my power is absolute. Unfortunately, it looks like they've learned not to come into the water, and eventually they'll probably also learn not to get close enough that I can pull them in."

"Okay. Um... who are you?"

"I am the aquatic princess, Wakisagihime. What about you?"

"Um, Mystia. Mystia Lorelei. Um... look, thank you for saving me, but I have to go." And with that, Mystia flew off, away from the lake and back into the woods. She soon came upon the clearing, now deserted except for the unmoving form of Wriggle Nightbug.

* * *

Nitori wandered slowly through the village, almost completely unaware of her surroundings. She barely even realized she was back in the village; Sanae had pretty much dragged her there before splitting, saying she was going to talk to Takeri. She was heading towards her shop, but she wasn't really aware of this; her thoughts were entirely on Liora.

' _You're... the 'smart one'.. right?_ '

Liora's last words, parroting back what Nitori'd said to her multiple times. Why? Why was that at the front of her mind? Why was that so important as to be her last words? She'd said it before Nitori left her, too. Clearly she was focused on them, but why? Nitori _was_ the smart one; surely Liara'd been aware of that, hadn't she? _Wait. What if..._ what if that was why? What if she _did_ know, and it made her feel inferior? _No, that would be stupid. I'm better in general, but she's better –_ was _better – at her specialty. Why would she feel inferior?_ Although emotions weren't always logical, were they?

But why was she still thinking about it in the middle of battle?

Why?

 _Why?_

Why was Liora still thinking about that in battle? Why was she – _wait, is_ that _why?_ Did she choose to fight on her own _because_ she'd felt inferior? What if... if Liora'd chosen to fight because of those feelings? And if she had, then...

 _Did I drive her to this?_

Nitori kept moving slowly through the village, her thoughts occupied by Liora's death.

And Nitori wasn't the only one having such thoughts. Mystia, standing over the dead body of Wriggle Nightbug, found her mind similarly occupied.

In a way, it was worse for Mystia than it was for Nitori. True, Mystia didn't have the thought that she was to blame for Wriggle's death – if anyone besides the creatures was, it was Cirno for her refusal to flee – but she'd _been_ there. She'd _seen_ Wriggle die.

And there hadn't been a thing she could do about it.

Mystia knew she couldn't have done anything to save Wriggle. She didn't blame herself for that; she'd done everything she could, and only chance had kept her from joining Wriggle. _That_ was the problem. She couldn't feel safe, because she _wasn't_ safe. None of them were. She, Wriggle, Cirno, and Dai together had barely managed one of those creatures. Now, with just three of them, they'd lose against even just one. And if they weren't all together, they'd have even less of a chance.

They were all going to die, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Oh, sure, they could hide out somewhere; they could live at the lake and trust Wakisagihime to protect them, or find a village and hope for safety in numbers, or something, but would that really work? No protection was perfect; what if too many showed up for a village as a whole to handle, or they got separated from the others in the village? Or if they were attacked at the lake, what if Wakisagihime couldn't handle enough of them, or was busy with one group when another showed up, or simply didn't notice in time? No, finding aid could help for a time, but in the end, it was only a delaying measure. The only way Mystia could guarantee her safety was if she was strong enough to protect herself. But she wasn't. And she knew she never would be; she was too weak. She simply didn't have the power it would take. So she would have to find another course of action, and there was only one she could think of.

Mystia picked up Wriggle's body and rose into the air, heading towards her stand for what she knew would be the last time.

* * *

The youkai once known as Rumia landed in front of the next entrance. This was the third location, the third seal.

Accessing the first two seals, and doing what she'd needed to do, had been easy. She'd found the distortion hiding the first seal's location and removed it, exposing the cave leading to the seal. She'd dispatched the guardian, solved the puzzle to open the way forward (she could have pushed through with brute force, but she didn't want to risk any spillover to the seal beyond), and made her way to the seal chamber. Then she'd tapped into the energies of the chamber, altering them as she required. The second seal had been the same, just with a different guardian and puzzle.

Now, as she landed in front of the third location, she could tell something was different here. The energy was different, less controlled. Not in a way that would impact her task, fortunately, but still worth noting. Someone else had been here, had done something here, and as she landed, that someone emerged from the cave. A dark figure, dressed in black and deep purple. As the figure emerged and caught sight of the ex-Rumia, she held out her arm and a sword, emerging from shadow, appeared in it. "Who are you?"

"Immediate aggression," ex-Rumia said. "So hostile. Who are you, so expectant of opposition?"

"Do you claim not to intend opposition?"

"I do not know your purpose here, although given what I can feel of the energies within, I think I can guess. But my purpose here is not interfered with by what you've done."

"No."

"No?"

"No," the mysterious woman said. "I know exactly why you're here, but you're too late. I have finished here. Soon, I will be finished elsewhere as well, and then the fate of all is decided. Not that you will live to see it, of course. But first, I ask again: who are you, that would come to the seals?

"It's been a very long time," ex-Rumia said, "since I had a name. I suppose I shall return to my old one, so you may call me Luna."

"Luna. And why are you here?"

"Because I need to be," Luna said. "I don't intend to explain myself to you. I have business at the seal; that is all that matters. Besides, you mean to attack regardless of my reason, don't you? But before we fight, I've given you my name, so how about you give me yours?"

"I have none. If you must call me something, then call me Herald."

"Herald." Luna held out her hand, and her own sword appeared in it. "Very well, then, Herald. I have things to do, so if you mean to do battle with me, then let us get to it."

* * *

 **[BGM:** **/watch?v=DqsA9uGHSHw]**

Usually, Mystia would open her stand as night fell, but tonight was different.

Customers came, of course; they couldn't know she was keeping the stand closed tonight. No humans - she had few of those even in the best of times, and this wasn't the best of times – but several youkai showed up. Some left when they saw the sign indicating the stand was closed, but others didn't turn away, wondering why, if the stand was closed, she was there and preparing food. But then they saw Wriggle's body and they understood.

Eventually, Cirno and Daiyousei showed up. Mystia didn't really want to see them right now, or at least not Cirno, but they'd been Wriggle's friends, too. She couldn't turn them away. They deserved one last chance to say goodbye, even if she knew they wouldn't actually be joining her.

"Hey, Mystia," Daiyousei said softly as she and Cirno sat down. "I'm glad to see you're safe."

"Yeah," Mystia said. "'Safe'. Sure. Because there's totally not going to be any more of those things."

"Hey," Cirno said, "I told you to just let me-"

Daiyousei gave Cirno a slap in the face. "I told you not to say that!" Then, to Mystia, "I'm sorry about her. I tried to tell her to stay quiet, not say things like that, but, well..."

"She's Cirno," Mystia said. "I know. It's not your fault if she says something stupid."

Daiyousei ignored Cirno's objecting 'hey!' "Yeah, but still. I know how hard this is, and she shouldn't be making it harder. But I couldn't just not bring her. She was Wriggle's friend, too. She deserves a chance to say goodbye."

"You keep saying that," Cirno said. "Why do you think we won't see her any-"

Daiyousei slapped her again. "Cirno, she's _dead_. You know youkai don't come back like we do."

"And she died protecting you," Mystia said.

"Well, that's just dumb," Cirno said. "I'm the strongest! I didn't need-"

This time it wasn't a slap from Daiyousei; it was a frying pan, thrown by Mystia right into Cirno's face. "Shut up! Just shut up! She died because _you_ are too damn _stupid_ to run when you should! If you'd just gotten the hell out of there when we said to, she'd still be alive! This is _your_ fault, Cirno! So say your goddamn goodbyes and then get the _fuck_ out of here!"

Silence for a moment, then Cirno got to her feet. "What the hell, Mys? What-"

"Just shut up! Okay? Just shut the hell up!"

Another pause, then, "Fine," Cirno said. "You want to be that way, I'll just leave."

And she did.

There was another silence as Mystia composed herself, and then Daiyousei spoke. "I'm really sorry about that. I-"

"It wasn't your fault," Mystia said, her voice soft and flat. "Dai, do me a favor, would you? Get her and go to one of the villages, somewhere you two can find safety in numbers. Or back to the lake, where the mermaid girl can protect you. Go to one of those places and stay there. You won't be safe, but you'll be saf _er_. I don't want to lose you, too, you or Cirno. It may be her fault that Wriggle's dead, but she didn't want it to happen; she was just being stupid. I... don't want her to die for that."

"I'm sorry, Mystia," Daiyousei said, "but... I don't think she'll abandon the search for Rumia. I can't, either. She's our friend, too, and with those _things_ around, we can't let her be on her own."

"You don't get it, do you? She's dead, Daiyousei. Even if it hasn't happened yet, it'll happen soon. And finding her won't help. Even together, we don't stand a chance against those things. She's dead, you're dead, we're all dead. Please, Dai. Find Cirno and get somewhere safer. Stay alive long enough."

"...Long enough for what?"

"Long enough for me to return."

"...What? You're... going somewhere?"

Mystia nodded. "Please, Dai. Stay alive, and keep Cirno alive. All right?"

Silence for a moment, and then, "...All right. I'll do as much as I can."

"Thank you. Now go find her before she gets herself into more trouble."

"All right." Dai got to her feet to leave, then turned back towards Mystia. "Hey, Mystia? I... well, no, I don't understand what you're going through. I can't. I'm trying, but... I mean, I know Wriggle's not coming back, but... it's like some part of me refuses to believe this."

"Death is different for fairies. I understand that."

"Yeah. But... well, I just want to say that... that I'm sorry Wriggle's gone. She was a friend, and even if I still can't convince myself she's not coming back, it'll sink in eventually, and I'm sure I'll be just as sad as you are. Heck, I'm pretty sad even now. Just... well, just know that you're not the only one who's going to miss her."

"I know, Dai," Mystia said. "Thank you. And... goodbye, for now. If you survive, I'll see you again, but until then, goodbye."

"Goodbye," Daiyousei said, and then she flew away.

Mystia watched Dai go, then turned back to the meal she was preparing. Before long, it was finished, and she sat down with it in front of her.

Mystia turned to look at Wriggle's body. Aside from the fatal wound and the portion Mystia had cut out, she looked much as she always had, just... lifeless. Then Mystia turned back to her meal. She grabbed a piece of meat, then looked over at Wriggle again. "I take you within myself," she said softly, "so that a part of you will remain with me for as long as I live." Then she ate it. Then she picked up the next piece and ate that. And the next, and the next, and so on until she was finished.

Mystia got up and went over to Wriggle's body, what was left of it. She took it, carried it out into the woods, and set it down, leaving it for others. She'd had her fill, but there was much left, and letting any of Wriggle's body go to waste would be an insult to her memory. So she left the body, knowing that others, whether youkai or animal, would consume what remained.

Mystia returned to her stand and just sat there for a while, thinking about Wriggle, remembering her. How long, exactly, she wasn't sure, but a long time.

Then she stood again, and gathered her belongings, any she cared to keep.

Then she left the stand behind, flying away from the woods she called home.

She flew to the lake and over it, past the mansion, the sun beginning its rise as she reached the mountain beyond.

She made her way up the mountain.

She reached the top of the mountain, and the shrine that was her destination.

She landed outside the shrine and entered its grounds on foot, seeing no others present at the moment.

 **[End BGM]**

She approached the altar and knelt in front of it, and as soon as she did, she heard a voice. "Well, well. A youkai of the forest, are you not? Unusual for one such as you to come all the way here."

"You are the god of this shrine?" Mystia said. "The sky god Kanako Yasaka?"

The goddess' form appeared before her, hovering above the altar. "I am. And what, I ask, brings you here? I sense a desire, a strong one. You have come here to ask something of me."

"I... I have. I brought everything I have. I'll give you whatever you demand in return."

"I see. Well, first, I must question you thus: what would you ask of me? What divine boon would you have Kanako Yasaka bestow upon you?"

"Power," Mystia said. "I... I need power. I'm too weak. I can't even keep myself alive, much less anyone I care about. I need power. Please, Goddess of the Mountain, please grant me strength!"

Kanako was silent for a moment. "Hmm... so power is what you desire? Yes, I can grant you power. But there is only one price for this, only one payment equal to what you ask. If you want power, the price is service. Serve me, and I shall give you what you desire. Do you accept?"

Mystia didn't hesitate.

"I do."

* * *

 **Normally I'd be listing the changes here, but there really weren't any. I reworded a few sentences here and there, and of course did the name change from Teliri to Takeri, but that's it. This chapter mainly focuses on Liora and Team 9, and none of the changes really affected them.**

 **On the topic of Liora and Team 9, well,** **I'm pretty sure some of you are not happy about what happened in this chapter, but then, the deaths of major characters do tend to have that effect. Moreso Wriggle's death than Liora's, I'm sure, since Liora was an OC, but I do hope you at least found her to be a decent-enough character. And just as a warning, this isn't the last time major characters are going to die. I'm not going to kill someone just to do it or for shock value or anything like that, and there'll certainly be no redshirt-style deaths or anything, but I'm not afraid to kill someone off when the story calls for it.**

 **Next, let's talk about Hikari and her people. As you may have figured out, that was the scene I mentioned back at the start when talking about nominal importance. It just didn't feel right not to have Hikari address the other kappa by name. Hikari's the only important one, though, and even she's not really a major character. She'll appear a few more times, but she's not going to be a main character or anything.**

 **Now I'd like to mention the last scene, with Mystia. In case it wasn't clear enough, yes, Mystia was eating (part of) Wriggle. Despite the variety of settings, races, and cultures found in fantasy stories, funeral rites/mourning rituals seem to always be fairly familiar. Customs may not be the same as what we're used to, but they're still fairly normal. But I figured youkai customs would be a bit more different than that, which led to this scene. It's meant as a representation of the whole 'you'll always be with me' idea, sort of a way of literalizing it. Some of you may have found it disturbing, but it was meant to be touching in its own way, and I hope that came across.**

 **Oh, there's one other minor thing I should mention. Some of you may have noticed a minor contradiction in the narration scene, and I would like to make it clear that this was deliberate on my part.**

 **Now, as stated previously, this was the last chapter posted for _End Fantasy_. The changes were more in the earlier chapters, since chapters four and five were already more focused on parts that remained unchanged. I did have to make significant changes to the sixth chapter to account for the differences, but that's not a chapter that was ever written as part of _End Fantasy_. From here on out, it's all new content, so obviously there will be no more changes to list. For returning readers, I hope the changes made the story better, and I'd love to hear what you thing of them. And for new readers, I hope you've enjoyed it so far, and would love to hear what you think, too. And, of course, I hope you'll all stick around for the rest of the story. Chapter 6 is written and should be up within the next couple days, and I hope to see you all there.**


	7. Chapter 6: Expectations

**Chapter 6  
** _Expectations_

Sanae awoke to the sound of activity in the shrine's kitchen. _What the..._ She was the only one who ever prepared food, as unlike her, Kanako and Suwako didn't need to eat. But someone was certainly doing _something_ in the kitchen. So Sanae quickly dressed herself and went into the kitchen, where she was greeted by the unexpected sight of the night sparrow Mystia Lorelei looking through the cupboards. "Um..."

Mystia looked up. "Oh, Sanae- um, Lady Kochiya. Good morning. I... hope I didn't wake you."

"You didn't, but... what are you doing?"

"I thought I'd make breakfast," Mystia said, "but I don't know where anything is here."

"Good morning, Sanae," Kanako said. Mystia flinched in surprise at the goddess' sudden appearance, but Sanae was used to it. "I believe you've met Mystia before."

"Um, yes," Sanae said, "but... why is she here?"

"She has pledged her service as the new Moriya shrine maiden."

"The new..." Sanae said, "...I see."

Kanako's voice came through Sanae's snake charm so that only she could hear it. "You know why a new maiden is needed. Your ascension is imminent, and as such you will soon be unable to continue in your role. Thanks to sentiment, I've put this off for far too long. It may not be pleasant for you, but the reality is that Suwako and I will be needing a new shrine maiden."

Sanae turned back to Mystia. "Well, then, allow me to welcome you to the Moriya Shrine."

"Mystia is to begin immediately as a shrine maiden-in-training," Kanako said, aloud this time. "I trust you'll teach her well."

"I will," Sanae said.

"See that you do." Kanako walked over to Mystia, handing her a snake charm similar to Sanae's. "This is yours now. It is your link to me. Sanae can explain what it is and how to use it. And Sanae." Kanako looked over at her current maiden.

"Yes?"

"I know this usually waits until later on, but I want you to start training Mystia to channel my power right away."

 _What?!_ "I... yes, Lady Kanako. But... may I ask why?"

"Because right now Gensokyo faces great danger, and there's no knowing when she may have need of my power. And also because she asked for it. That was her pledge, service in exchange for power."

"...I see," Sanae said. _Why does Mystia want power so badly all of a sudden?_ "All right. I will do as you say."

"Thank you," Mystia said. "I know this is all pretty sudden, but... well, thank you."

* * *

Soon after entering Voile, Liri was met by Koakuma. "Hi, Koa."

"Hey, Liri," Koakuma said. "Patchy said you might stop by."

"Just to check in on something."

"Yeah, you want to take a look at the papers, right? Patchy's with Remilia right now, but she told me to give you this if you showed up." Koakuma produced a newspaper seemingly from nowhere and handed it to Liri. "She said there's something in the headline article that sounds like what you're looking for."

"Thanks." Liri took a look at the paper. "Hmm... 'Battle Between Unknown Youkai'? Let's see... 'Two unknown youkai, both wielding the power of darkness, were seen engaged in battle near the youkai village of Greentree.' Doesn't really seem like what I'm looking for. Did she say what part she thought I'd be interested in?"

"No. She's not the one who reads the paper. Remi's the one who likes it. Patchy asked Remi to let her know if there was anything about the sort of place you're looking for, and apparently Remi saw something."

"I see." Liri kept reading. _Okay, then... 'Both combatants appeared to be darkness youkai of significant power'... '"Freaked me out," one witness said. "I mean, yeah, it's hardly unusual to see a fight, but with those_ things _wandering around, we're all a little jumpy. And this was a_ real _fight, not a danmaku battle."'... 'We don't have a description of either combatant, as nobody approached close enough to get a decent look at them. "Yeah, we weren't about to get close to a fight like that," one villager said.'... 'After the battle concluded, one resident visited the site, finding a cave that hadn't been there before.' Bingo. '"I have to imagine it had something to do with the battle. I mean, sure, I can think of about a half-dozen ways a cave like that could get there all of a sudden, but it's suspicious that it happened at the same time as the fight. I thought maybe one of them was claiming territory, but there was no sign of either. I didn't go in the cave, though, so maybe one of them was in there."' Huh. Nothing more about the cave, but still, it's worth a look._ "Well, she was right. This is exactly what I was looking for. Give Patchouli and Remilia my thanks, would you?"

"No problem," Koakuma said.

* * *

"I understand you've been looking into some of the recent happenings," Remilia said.

"I have, yes," Patchouli said. "An... acquaintance of mine brought something to my attention. Some highly unusual – supposedly impossible, in fact – magic. I don't know if it's tied to the appearance of these 'Twisted', but they did both appear at the same time. Of course, this could be a coincidence, but it could also indicate a connection."

"Hmm..." Remilia leaned back into her chair in thought. She and Patchouli were in her chambers at the moment, along with Sakuya; Remilia had called them in prior to going to sleep for the day; she wasn't purely nocturnal, but sleeping during the day was still hardly unusual for her. "A coincidence is unlikely, especially given certain... other factors. Sakuya."

"Yes, Milady?"

"I have reason to believe there will be a visitor to the mansion later today. Someone will come here to ask for your aid. I want you to go with her and assist her."

Sakuya didn't ask how Remilia knew this would happen. The maid was well aware that Remilia's power of fate afforded her a certain knowledge of what was to come. Said knowledge was both very imperfect and very incomplete, and she didn't really have control over what she could see – and, of course, nothing was _truly_ set in stone – but she did often have at least some knowledge of at least the very near future. "I... will do as you say, Milady. But... why?"

"I want you to report what you find. I don't know what would bring someone to you for help, but I believe it's connected to the other happenings in Gensokyo. I sense fate's hand at work, but I know not in what direction it pulls us."

She wanted information, then. Information and a foot in the door in case she decided to act. "I understand," Sakuya said.

"Good. Share what you see with Patchouli, too. Patchy, I want you to continue your research. The more we can determine about whatever's happening, the better."

"I'll be sure to keep you appraised of the results," Patchouli said.

"Good. That is all, for both of you. I think I'll turn in for the day. If you learn anything, let me know in the evening."

"Yes, Milady," Sakuya said, and Patchouli nodded her head in agreement. Then the two of them exited Remilia's chambers, leaving the vampire to her rest.

* * *

After leaving the mansion and crossing the lake, Liri was soon met by Tilea. The fairy was as energetic as always, and when told Liri was heading to explore another strange cave aggressively demanded the magician take her along. And though the fairy was generally poor company for serious work, she'd proven quite useful at the last one, so Liri didn't object. "We're not heading straight there, though. The last one had a dangerous creature guarding it, so we should assume this one does as well. I don't think Enkara's above ground today, so I was going to get Alraune and Akora. Probably overkill to bring both, but I'd rather not take chances."

"Oh," Tilea said. "I don't really like the bird-lady. I'll go find 'Rea and meet you in Greentree."

"That's fine with me," Liri said. Normally, sending a fairy on any sort of errand was fruitless, but Tilea was unusually intelligent for a fairy, and actually capable of remembering such a task long enough to actually do it. "You'll have to put up with her once we meet up, though. Although now that I think about it, she'll probably wait outside the cave unless we need her inside."

"Yeah, 'cause she's a bird. So the boring person'll stay away and not make it boring for the rest of us."

And so Tilea had flown off in search of Alraune, while Liri made her way to where she knew Akora would be. The eagle youkai had only ascended to youkaihood fairly recently, and to a large extent she still thought like the animal she used to be. As such, she still tended to remain within her former territory, and that was indeed where Liri found her.

Liri landed within Akora's territory, and the eagle youkai almost immediately flew down to meet her. "Liri."

"Hey, Akora. How're you doing?"

"Well. And you?"

Liri suppressed the urge to laugh at Akora's typically-minimal response; the woman was an expert hunter, but she continued to struggle with normal conversation. "I've been keeping busy. That's why I'm here, actually. I'm heading out to investigate a site near Greentree, but I have reason to expect danger, so I'd like some backup."

"And so you came to me," Akora said. The eagle youkai was a formidable fighter. As one would expect from an eagle youkai, she was big, strong, and fast. Like many avian youkai, she had some power over wind, but her power was fairly limited; it was the physical where she excelled. She was exactly as tough as she looked, and that was why Liri'd come to her.

"Yes. And Til's fetching Alraune, so she'll be there, too."

"You're asking me _and_ Alranue? What manner of danger could merit bringing both of us?"

"I'm just being careful. At the last site, Enkara and I – with some help from Tilea – took out a monster, and you and Alraune are both tougher than the three of us. I'd think one of you would be enough, but I'd rather bring you both just in case. We're dealing with some significant unknowns here, so I want to be careful."

"Trepidation when faced with the unknown. Wise." Akora thought for a moment. "Very well. There has been no hostile activity from rivals; I believe I can be absent from my territory for a time without worry. And I fed earlier, so I have no need to hunt. I shall accompany you."

"Thanks." Akora was a fairly young youkai, and she realized that she understood little about being a youkai. She and Liri had met by accident, when Liri and Tilea had just happened to cross into her territory during a spirited chase, and since then she'd been helping the eagle adapt to her new life. "Let's get going, then."

"Yes. I am not familiar with this 'Greentree', so I shall follow your lead."

"Works for me," Liri said. "Let's go."

* * *

After Liora's death the day before, Sanae had returned to Takeri's workshop and given her the news. Now, having left Mystia at the shrine, she was again with Takeri, but this time in Liora's shop.

"I know I'm the obvious choice to... ugh, 'replace' Liora," Takeri said, "but why are we here? She already gave me her designs."

"All of them?"

"Just the ones we're using with Nitori's device, but that's all I need. I... don't think we'll find anything else here."

"I'm sorry to ask you here," Sanae said. "I know this isn't easy for you. But... there may be something important here."

Takeri knew there wasn't time for mourning – the Twisted were at large, and the need for large-scale optical camouflage was growing by the day – but it was hard to focus when she was going through everything her former master had left behind. "I don't know what you're expecting to find, but this is a waste of time. There's nothing in here I need."

Sanae had to agree that they'd found nothing so far. But then, they probably weren't looking in the right place. "Is there somewhere she keeps any... more sensitive items or information? The sort of thing she really wanted to keep from any prying eyes?"

"Well, the storage room's right there," Takeri said, pointing to the door. "She leaves most of her stuff in the workshop, but she'll put any 'sensitive' items in there. You know, new prototypes and such. You need a code to get in, though."

"Do you know it?"

"I know what it was when I was her apprentice, but I can't guarantee it hasn't been changed since then. I doubt there's anything relevant in there, anyways." _Although I guess she probably would want me to be the one to end up with all her prototypes and such._ "Well, I'll try it, I guess."

Takeri entered a fairly long sequence on the keypad next to the door, and it was indeed the correct password. The door opened, and Sanae and Takeri entered the storage room. It was fairly empty, although there was a pile of equipment in the middle of the room. "That looks like it matches the specs she gave me," Takeri said. "That must be what she used for Nitori's prototype. I guess she put it in here just to be sure. She does – did – tend to be a bit obsessive about consistency, about minimizing variables. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you. Odds are she wanted to be sure she used the exact same gear for the next test."

"I see," Ssanae said. She took a look around the room, and soon spotted something on a small table next to the entrance. She walked over and picked the device up. "Hey, Takeri? You know what this is?"

Takeri looked over to Sanae. "Yeah, that's a recorder." _But... why would she have one of those in here? She always used written records for her designs and such, and I can't think of any other records she'd keep in here._

Sanae seemed to be having similar thoughts. "Is this something she normally keeps in here?"

"Not while I was her apprentice," Takeri said. She walked over to Sanae, who handed her the device. "Yeah, it's just a standard recorder. Hmm..." She pressed a couple buttons and checked the display. _That's odd._ "There's only a single recording on here. She used my name for it."

That got Sanae's attention. "Then she _did_ leave something."

"Wait," Takeri said, "you were expecting this?"

"I was expecting something, though I wasn't sure; events haven't quite been playing out as I thought they would. But that is likely what we're looking for. You should play the message. I'll give you some privacy."

 _Huh? The hell does she think's on here?_ "I don't see why that's necessary."

Takeri hit the play button and set the recorder on the table, and a few seconds later, it projected in image of Liora just above itself.

" _Takeri,"_ the recording said, _"if you're watching this, then... I guess I'm not around anymore. I just... there are some things I want to say, but... it's not always easy to. I just want you to know how I feel. How I felt, I guess, since you'd only be watching this if I'm dead._

" _I didn't take on apprentices as a usual thing. You know that. For most, there's nothing they could learn from me that they couldn't learn from someone else. I'm the best optics engineer in Gensokyo, but you can't just start at the top. Learning happens from the bottom up. There's no reason for me to teach them, because they weren't ready to go that deep in. Most of them would never be ready. You, though, you were different. You were far ahead of the curve. You'd been tinkering with optics since you were a kid, and you had an uncommon aptitude for it. Most simply don't_ understand _it the way you did when you came to me. You may have lacked knowledge, but you certainly didn't lack ability. The closest I've seen anyone come to my level._

" _I'll be frank here; you weren't at my level when you started, and you weren't when you finished. I was kind of disappointed, to be honest. I thought you might be just as good, if not better, but... you weren't. I tried to get you there, but it just wasn't happening. And, yes, that was a disappointment. I was hoping to help teach someone who would be better than me, who would one day take the science to places I never could. I thought you might be that person, but... I was wrong. Still, though, I don't regret taking you on as my apprentice. You may never have quite reached my level, but you were pretty close, close enough that it was definitely worth me being the one to teach you. Others wouldn't have learned anything from me they couldn't have learned from someone else, but you did. And hopefully you can pass that on to someone else. I may not have been able to find the one who would surpass me, but maybe you will. I certainly hope so. So... know that I'm glad to have taken you on, Takeri. And... goodbye."_

The recording ended.

Takeri was silent for a few seconds, but then... "What the...? The hell was that?"

That was _not_ the reaction Sanae had expected. "Um... Takeri?"

Takeri grabbed the recorder again and went through its menus, checking all the data she could. "No external access; that message was definitely recorded by this device, not made from another and transferred. And it's the original recording, too; no sign it was altered. The _hell_ is this shit?" She spun to face Sanae. "You expected this to be here. Why? What do you know?"

"I- I'm sorry," Sanae said, taken off-guard by the seeming hostility. "I don't know... I just thought she'd have left a message for you. I... okay, well, this twisted thing has been proceeding much like certain stories from the outside world. The mentor always dies in those stories, and usually leaves a message behind."

"So you brought me here to look for it? Then did you expect she would die, too?"

"I... didn't realize it in time," Sanae admitted. "By the time I did, it was too late. But... even if I had, I wouldn't have thought it would happen then. In the stories, the mentor gives his or her life to save the student's, and that... didn't happen here. You weren't in danger. In fact, from what Nitori said, Liora expected to win the fight. That's... not how it happens in the stories."

"I don't know about your 'stories'," Takeri said, "but this recording? It's bullshit. It's fake. I don't know how it was made, how it got into the storage room here, but it's not real. That wasn't Liora. She'd never leave a message like that."

"Ah." Sanae actually seemed to relax upon hearing that. "I understand. That... wasn't easy to hear, was it? That she was disappointed in you. But she wanted you to know how she really felt, even if you wouldn't like hearing it."

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about? I already _did_ know all that."

"What?"

"That was never a secret," Takeri said. She was still upset, yes, but not at Sanae. "Liora never hid her opinion of me. She always said it was stupid to mislead a student. Told me that right when she agreed to take me on as an apprentice, that she wouldn't hold back. And she didn't. Always evaluated my work honestly, made sure I knew it if I did something badly, told me exactly what she thought of me. And that 'disappointment' stuff? She told me that, too, at the end. Told me she'd' had high hopes for me, too high for me to meet. Even apologized for it. I knew she wanted me to 'take the science further', and I knew she'd concluded I couldn't. Hell, I agree with her; I'm _not_ as good as she was. Never will be. Damn close, maybe, but not quite there."

"But... I don't understand," Sanae said. "Why-"

"How the hell do you think _I_ feel? You barely knew her. This... this is bullshit. She never would have left that sort of message. And that part about those things being hard to say? That's shit, too. The truth was never hard for her. She'd have had a much harder time _not_ saying how she really felt. And even if she _had_ left a message, it wouldn't have been like that. She doesn't talk that way. No, I don't know what the hell this message is, but I sure as hell know it's _not_ genuine. You said events have been playing out like outside-world stories?"

"I... more or less," Sanae said.

"Well, I'll tell you this: Liora didn't make this recording. I don't know how, but it was faked. And if it being here is part of your stories, and someone put it here deliberately, then maybe you should ask yourself if there's anyone else who'd know about these 'stories', because maybe whoever put it here did it _because_ that's what happens in the stories. And while you do that, I'm taking this to Eisa. I don't know how this was faked, and if anyone can figure that out, it's her. And if I know how it was faked, I might be able to narrow down who made it. Hopefully one of us can figure out who the bastard is, because I'm _not_ happy with them." Takeri left the storage room, but turned around before exiting the workshop. "And don't worry; this won't delay production of the projectors for the new optical camouflage system." Then she left, leaving Sanae by herself.

* * *

Mystia hadn't known what to expect from her training as a shrine maiden, but routine cleaning wasn't it. She'd known it was necessary to keep a shrine clean, of course; she just hadn't thought it'd be part of the training. But Sanae had been insistent. "You can't expect to ignore routine chores just because you serve gods," she'd said. Then she'd shown Mystia where everything was kept. "I have some... business to attend to," she'd then said, her tone much more sober. "I'll be back when I'm done." And then she'd left. And Mystia had begun cleaning, starting inside the shrine. Aside from cleaning up after breakfast, however, there wasn't much to do inside; everything was quite clean and tidy. So she'd proceeded outside. She wasn't sure why a shrine inhabited by wind and earth gods needed a maiden to sweep up leaves and wipe dirt away, but she figured there was some spiritual significance to it. Or maybe gods just considered such tasks to be beneath them. She'd ask Sanae about it later.

As she worked in solitude, Mystia's thoughts inevitably drifted to the events of the day before. The appearance of those creatures – Twisted, the shrine had taken to calling them – the attempt to flee, Cirno deciding to fight the fairy trio instead of running herself, Mystia and Wriggle trying to hold the Twisted off long enough for Daiyousei to deal with the Cirno problem. And then Wriggle, in doing so, losing her life.

And then there'd been the night afterwards, Mystia's farewell to her friend. And then Cirno'd shown up and been an idiot again. Not that she could help it; in fact, she was actually on the smarter side for a fairy, though not by nearly as much as Dai or even that earth fairy... Tilea, that was her name. Still, if she hadn't been too dumb to run when she was told to...

Mystia shook her head. _No, it wouldn't have meant a damn thing. Even if we all survived that attack, someone would've died from the next one, or the one after that, or the one after that._ Still, it was hard to deny that Cirno was in large part responsible for Wriggle dying when she had. Those _monsters_ had actually done the deed, but...

"You seem troubled."

Mystia jumped back in surprise. "Ah!" Then, "Oh, Lady Kanako. I..."

"I didn't mean to startle you," Kanako said. "I apologize."

"Oh, no, It's... it's okay. I just... didn't see you there."

"Ah. That's right, you wouldn't be accustomed to such things. This is my shrine; I am always present."

"Oh, right." _Gods are aware of everything within their shrines. And they can appear anywhere within the grounds._ "I'll... have to get used to that."

"Sanae has long since become accustomed to it. I'd forgotten how startling it can be to those who are not. And it didn't help that your mind was elsewhere, either. You were very much lost in your own thoughts, your own troubles."

"You... noticed that."

"You are – or will eventually become, rather – my maiden. There is a link between shrine maidens and the gods they serve. The snake emblem I gave you is the symbol of ours. As long as you have it, you can always reach me, and I will always know of you."

"So you could feel that I was... thinking about things?"

"You've also been sweeping the same step for the past ten minutes."

Mystia glanced down. "Ah! Sorry. I just..."

"You have a lot on your mind," Kanako said. "I assume it's related to why you came here. Whatever happened, it must have been something quite impactful if it drove you to abandon your old life and pledge yourself to my service."

"That's... safe to say, yes. But... it's my problem. I shouldn't bother you with it."

"Do not think that way, Mystia. You have pledged yourself to a god. As my maiden, you will never again face your problems alone. It doesn't matter what it is; Suwako and I will always be there for you. Do not hesitate to seek comfort in the arms of your gods."

"I... thank you," Mystia said. "I guess you deserve to know why I came looking for power, why I chose to serve you."

"Don't feel obligated to say anything if you don't want to," Kanako said.

"It's okay. Maybe I... should talk about it. I'm not used to dealing with death."

"Death. Someone close to you?"

"Yeah. Those _things_ , the creatures you call Twisted, they did it. I was with my friends, with Cirno and Dai and Wriggle, and... then those _things_ came, and... we tried to run, but Cirno, she..."

"The ice fairy? Yes, she never has been one to show sense. But you shouldn't blame yourself. You couldn't have known the Twisted can actually kill fairies."

"We did know. Wriggle and I did, at least. We... found some bodies. We didn't know how they'd been truly killed, but when the Twisted showed up, well, it wasn't hard to figure out they were what did it. No, we knew. But it's not Cirno who died. She'd roped in some other fairies against their will. Those three _did_ run when the Twisted showed up, and then that _idiot_ decided to attack _them_. She would've rather had another of her petty squabbles with those three then just get _out_ of there. The Twisted would've killed her if we left, so Wriggle and I tried to hold them off while Dai went to stop the fight, but..."

"Ah. Wriggle gave her life to do so."

Mystia nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "She... yes, she died."

"But Cirno survived?"

"More or less. Dai stopped the fight by killing her, but that was a normal fairy 'death', so she resurrected, and the others all got away. So yeah, at least it wasn't in vain, but..."

"But that doesn't make it any easier," Kanako said softly, "does it?"

Mystia slowly shook her head. "No. It doesn't."

"I've seen that sort of sacrifice before. As a god, there has never been a shortage of followers ready and willing to give their lives for me. Too willing, a lot of the time. To often, they gave their lives in my name when there was no need for such action. It hasn't happened since I came to Gensokyo – that level of fanaticist devotion seems much rarer here than in the outside world – but I've seen it time and again, people throwing their lives away out of some misguided delusion that I want them to. Your friend, though, she gave her life because it was the only way to save another's. That has meaning. It may not make the loss any easier to bear, but perhaps you'll eventually be able to take some comfort in the fact that she will find reward in the afterlife, that her soul will be at peace while it waits to be born again."

"...Maybe," Mystia said. "I keep telling myself she did the right thing, but... it doesn't feel that way."

"I know," Kanako said. "I know."

* * *

After meeting Takeri at Liora's workshop, Sanae's plan was to visit the research facility where Nitori had taken the captured Twisted, see if they'd been able to learn anything about the things. But things at the workshop hadn't quite gone as expected, and as she headed for the research facility, Sanae was lost in thought.

Sanae hadn't known Liora, but Takeri had, and if she said that message was out of character for Liora, Sanae saw no reason not to believe her. It wasn't the only irregularity in the situation, either. In the stories, the mentor sacrificed herself to allow the student and any other allies to escape, throwing herself into a battle she knew she'd lose to protect them. But that wasn't what happened here. Here, Liora'd expected to win but things went wrong. And her student hadn't even been there. In the stories the sacrifice was a _choice_ ; here, things just didn't go as expected.

And this wasn't the first time events hadn't conformed to the story, either. The sealed evil, Mephilia, claimed to have been sealed away by Prince Shotoku, but Miko, who _was_ Shotoku, denied this. And the time didn't match, either; Mephilia claimed to have been sealed the expected thousand years ago, but Shotoku had been sealed five hundred years _before_ that. And that wasn't the only thing the timing didn't fit. Gensokyo was a reflection of the outside world's fantasy; that's why this, a common type of story in the outside world, was happening. But Gensokyo hadn't existed a thousand years ago, nor had those stories. So how had the story gotten set up?

Sanae remembered Takeri's words. Was the optics engineer right? Was someone setting up the story deliberately? And if so, who? Sanae supposed the obvious answer was Mephilia herself, but she was in the role of the sealed evil, so why would she set up a story that would end with her defeat? Unless she intended to change the story, perhaps? But then why would she want it to play out in the first place? Or was she just doing this for her own amusement? After all, Gensokyo had no shortage of powerful individuals willing to mess around simply for entertainment. Of course, someone who would do something like this just for amusement was a special sort of evil anyways. But maybe there was another reason. Or maybe it wasn't Mephilia at all, but someone else. Or maybe Takeri's theory wasn't right at all. _I just don't have enough information._

Sanae's thoughts were still occupied as she entered the research center, but even so, she took notice of the newspaper, the day's _Bunbunmaru_ lying on a table in the lobby, and the headline caught her eye. _'Battle Between Unknown Youkai'? Wait, does that mean..._ Sanae grabbed the paper and quickly read through the article. _Yes, it has to be. That new cave, that sounds exactly like the one that magician described. It has to be a seal. And those youkai were there because one of them is allied with Mephilia and working to unseal her. And the_ other _one,_ she _'s an enemy of Mephilia's. Someone dedicated to keeping Mephilia sealed. In fact, since she's a youkai, she could very well have been alive when the sealing happened. If I can find her, then I might be able to get some answers._

Sanae set the paper down and left the facility. The research report could wait; right now, she was off to Greentree.

* * *

The kappa Hikari landed on the shore of the Misty Lake and approached the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Though there were, of course, all sorts of stories about the vampire who owned it, as far as Hikari had heard Remilia was actually fairly cordial. Not necessarily welcoming of uninvited guests, perhaps, but not outright hostile to them either, and more than willing to welcome in _invited_ guests (be they hers or her resident magician's) and familiar faces. Of course, Hikari was neither, and the mansion's guard came to attention as she approached.

"Halt!" the guard said. "What business do you have here?"

"I'm here to speak to..." _What was the name? Right. "_...Miss Izayoi."

"To Sakuya? And for what purpose do you wish to speak with her?"

"I've heard about her," Hikari said. "She has knowledge of time, right? And some degree of power over it? I have something I need help with."

The guard's expression was one of familiarity. "Ah, of course. You wish her to take you back in time. Unfortunately, that's not possible. Traveling back in time is something nobody can do."

"I... I'm not here for that."

The guard chuckled. "Of course you're not. Unfortunately, I have strict instructions not to let such visitors through. If you insist on continuing your attempt to change the past, I'm afraid you'll have to get through me first."

Before Hikari could respond, someone else was there, appearing as if from nowhere. "Stand down, Meiling," she said. "This particular visitor is expected."

"Really?" the guard, Meiling, said. "I wasn't aware."

"Mistress Remilia foresaw her arrival."

"I see." Meiling took a step back. "Very well, then."

"Who are you?" Hikari asked the unknown woman.

"My name is Sakuya Izayoi. I understand you wish to see me."

"I... yes, I do. I... have a problem. Something happened, and I'm trying to figure out what."

"And you think I can be of aid."

"The timing doesn't fit," Hikari said. "Some things took longer than they should have, others took less time than they should have. And none of us noticed it until it was over."

"I see," Sakuya said. "You think you experienced a temporal anomaly."

"I don't know. None of us know about that sort of thing."

"So you came to me. Very well, then. My mistress foresaw your arrival, and bade me assist you."

 _Wait, she what? No, never mind, it doesn't matter._ "That's good," Hikari said. "Someone... someone died because of this. We need to figure out what happened."

"Then let us get started."

"Thank you," Hikari said. "All right, then, let's get going."

* * *

"So many people," Akora said. "I understand the idea of grouping together for protection, but I don't know how anyone can stand being so close to so many all the time."

"Not everyone can," Liri said. "That's one thing you don't need to learn. Plenty of youkai prefer to live in solitude. Some humans do, as well."

As youkai villages went, Greentree was fairly unremarkable. Situated in the middle of the woods, it was built around the plant life already there. The brush had been cleared, but everything else remained. Many homes and other structures were built partially into some of the larger trees, and wood was the preferred construction material in general. It was populated by various woodland youkai, and blended fairly naturally into the environment around it.

"So," Akora said as she and Liri headed into the village, "we are to meet Tilea and Alraune here?"

"Yes. I'm not sure if they're already here or not, but we can start-"

Liri was cut off by an enthusiastic cry. "Beat you!" Tilea shouted as she came flying through the village, a companion following behind her. "I beat you!"

"This wasn't a contest, Til."

"Awwwwwwww."

"Hey, Liri," Tilea's companion said as she caught up. "Akora. Been a while."

"Hello, Alraune," Liri said. "Glad you could make it."

Alraune ruffled Tilea's hair. "Well, with how enthusiastic this little thing was, how could I say no?"

"I would think the same way you always say it," Akora said.

Alraune chuckled. "It's a figure of speech, Akora."

Next to each other, Akora and Alraune were quite the contrast. Akora, an eagle youkai, was every bit as big and strong as one would expect, whereas Alraune was a plant youkai, born from the flora of the Forest of Magic. She was far more slender than the eagle, without Akora's musculature, but because of the miasma that infused essentially everything in the Forest of Magic, including its flora, Alraune had been deeply exposed to magic on a fundamental level before she'd even existed. As such, though she lacked Akora's physical strength, she was exceptionally powerful. That power, combined with her versatile ability of controlling plants, made her quite capable indeed. Akora was every bit as tough as she looked, but even so, Alraune was by far the more dangerous of the two, even if she didn't necessarily look it.

Their clothing was another contrast. Akora's dress tended to be simple, nonrestrictive, and minimal, and in fact it had taken some effort for Liri to convince her to wear anything at all. In general, she wore clothing made from animal skins, often skins taken from her own prey. Alraune's outfit, on the other hand, was a complex weaving of leaves, vines, and other plant matter, and she vines and flowers woven throughout her hair, another contrast with Akora, whose hair was wild and unkempt.

"A 'figure of speech'," Akora said. "What point is there to such things? People should simply say what they mean."

"See, Liri?" Tilea said. "She's always boring. Now come on, let's start the treasure hunt!"

"It's hardly a 'treasure hunt'," Liri said, "but yes, let's get started. It shouldn't be too difficult to find someone who can point us in the direction of the cave, so let's ask around."

"Right!" Tilea said. "Let's gooooooooo!" She flew off into the village.

Alraune chuckled. "Ah, fairies. Well, come on, then," she said, and she and the others headed into the village after Tilea.

* * *

Mystia was just finishing up outside the shrine when Kanako appeared again. "Ah! Oh, sorry, Lady Kanako. You surprised me again. I'm... not used to people appearing from nowhere."

"It'll come," Kanako said. "And you can just call me by name. The 'lady' is unnecessary."

"Oh, all right. I thought... I guess I don't' really know how to address a god. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I simply see no need for formalities among ourselves. In public is another matter, but here there's no need. Anyways, you seem to be just about finished out here, and it looks like you did a good job."

"Thank you, L- Kanako. I'm no stranger to cleaning. Even out in the woods, people want a certain neatness where they're eating. And yes, I'm just about done. I kind of thought Sanae would be back by now, though."

"Plans changed. She's currently on her way to a village called Greentree. Do you know of it?"

Mystia nodded. "It's a youkai village in the woods. I've never been there myself, but I have- had – a few regulars from there. But... why's she going there?"

"To keep it brief," Kanako said, "she's looking into something regarding the Twisted. There are quite a few mysteries regarding them, and she thinks she might find a lead on some answers."

"About those _things_? Why would she care to- no, never mind. You do need to understand the enemy, don't you?"

"Yes. And that is what she's doing. It does mean she'll be gone longer than expected, however. And given that she didn't leave any other tasks for you, I thought you might focus your attentions on something else." Kanako produced a book seemingly from nowhere. "Specifically, the history of this shrine, and of myself and Suwako. As the maiden of the Moriya Shrine, you will be expected to have such knowledge."

"I see. And that book is about you?"

"Myself, Suwako, and the Moriya Shrine. It's a very good record of our history. It's not perfect, of course, but it's still quite good. And, of course, Suwako and I are always available to answer questions or fill in any gaps."

"I'll keep that in mind," Mystia said. "I guess I'll get started reading through it, then." And with that, she headed back into the shrine.

* * *

"Thank you," Liri said.

"No problem," the villager said. "Just be careful. If either of those youkai is still there, you could be in danger."

The villager walked away, and Liri turned back to her companions. "Well, there we have it. The cave's a bit to the southwest."

"We also have a visitor," Akora said, pointing.

Liri and the others turned as a familiar figure approached and landed next to them. "Sanae. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"I saw the headline in the Bunbunmaru," Sanae said. "That battle is worth checking out, as is the cave. Is that what led you here?"

"Yes," Liri said. "Nobody in the village knows much more than was in the article, but they were able to direct us to the cave. We were about to go take a look."

"I'll join you. If it is indeed one of the seals, I'd like to see it for myself."

"Certainly."

"Thank you. And who are your companions? I don't believe I know any of them."

Liri made the introductions. "I asked Alraune and Akora along in case there's a guardian, and Tilea volunteered."

"I see. Well, anyways, you say you know where the cave is, so please, lead the way."

* * *

After her encounter with that 'Herald' woman, Luna, the youkai formerly known as Rumia, had needed the night, and most of the morning, to recover. Herald had been unusually strong; Luna couldn't remember the last time she'd faced someone at that level of power, someone who could match her. It hadn't been a conclusive battle, either; she'd driven Herald off, but hadn't been able to kill the woman. Then she'd headed into the cave and done her business, then left to rest and recover. And then she'd made her way to the next location. But here she found something unexpected. There was a seal over the entrance, and not a weak and faded one like normal. No, this one was new, and still strong.

 _Someone else was here,_ Luna thought as she prodded the seal. _And not Herald; she wouldn't have any reason to re-seal the entrance, and this wasn't made with her power, anyways. No, this is a magician's seal. And a well-made one, too._ Not that she couldn't break it, of course, though it would take some time even for her. But as she prodded it, she discovered a better way. A message from the magician in question, who identified herself as 'Liri', explaining that she'd placed her seal after breaking the old one.

Luna focused her power against the message, burning it out. Herald, too, would need to get past the seal, and Luna saw no reason to make this any easier for her. Then, with the message destroyed, she left for the next location. She'd take care of that one first, then see if she couldn't find this 'Liri'.

* * *

"There's no seal," Liri said after investigating the cave entrance. "The entrance is wide open."

"Because someone else was here," Sanae said. "One of those youkai was here to break the seal inside the cave."

"If so, she may have succeeded. This place feels... different from the other."

"I expect she did, yes. I'm more interested in the other one, though. There are some... uncertainties about what's happening, and I have reason to believe that one can shed some light on things."

"Hey!" Tilea said. "Stop talking already! Let's go in!"

"I.. shall remain here," Akora said. "I would rather not go underground."

"I know," Liri said. "You can wait out here. We'll call for you if we need you. Everyone else, let's head in. And just like last time, don't touch anything without my permission. All right, let's go."

Liri led the way into the cave. As before, the entrance led into a downward-sloped tunnel that soon opened into a large chamber. "This is big," Sanae said. "We're not far enough underground for the ceiling to be this high."

"Just like the last one. Stay there, everyone." Liri moved into the cavern, kneeling down in front of the design on the ground and focusing her senses on it. "It's... inactive." She stood and faced her companions. "It seems whichever combatant beat us in here killed the guardian as well. It seems I didn't need your help after all, Alraune."

"Hey," Alraune said, "better safe than sorry, right? Anyways, should we go further in?"

"Yes." Liri approached the far wall and examined the markings upon it. As with the last cave, there was a grid, this one fifteen spaces wide and fifteen deep. Each square within the grid was empty, but beside each row and above each column was a series of numbers. Next to the grid were three standalone squares: one empty, one filled in, and one with an X in it. There was also some writing on the wall, but once again Liri had no idea what it said, so she focused on the grid. "I'm... not sure what I'm looking at here."

Sanae came up beside her. "Wait, this looks like... well, it's worth a try. Liri, any idea how I'm supposed to work with this?"

"The other one responded to touch."

"All right. Then those three squares have to be 'fill', 'mark', and 'erase'. So..." Sanae touched the filled square, then touched a square in the grid, and the square was immediately filled in. Then she touched it again after touching the 'erase' square, and it emptied. "Just as expected. All right, I should be able to solve this."

"You know what we're supposed to do?"

"I've seen this kind of puzzle before," Sanae said, "in the outside world. It's called... well, actually, it's been called a lot of different things, but the name I know it best as is 'picross'. If you want, I can explain how it works."

"Please do."

"Okay, then. In picross, you're presented with a grid. In this case, it's a 15 x 15 grid. The goal is to correctly fill in the grid. Squares can be either filled or empty, and you need to figure out which squares are which." Sanae directed Liri's attention to one of the rows' number series, that of the fifth row down. "These numbers tell you how many squares in each row or column need to be filled in, and how many filled squares will be in a row. This row's series is '2, 8, 1, 1', so..." She filled in the first two squares in the row, then selected the 'mark' option and put an X mark in the next square. The following eight squares she filled in, then marked one, then filled one in, then marked one, and then filled the last one in. "There. That's how this row's filled in. That was an easy one, because there was only one possible arrangement; that's why I did it first. Now look here."

Sanae now indicated the third column, which only had one number, a '10'. "Now, this column only has one set of filled squares, ten of them. There are multiple ways you could fit in a series of ten, but see how we marked off the fifth square down when filling in that row? We know that square's not filled in, which leaves four spaces above it and ten below it, and since you can't fit ten squares into four..." she filled in the bottom ten squares of the column, "...there's only one way left to put them in. And since that's the only set of filled squares in this column, we can mark off the top four." She did so. "Now we have one row and one column filled in."

"And you keep working through the puzzle," Liri said, "each set of correct squares providing additional clues for those that remain."

"That's right. Now, I deliberately chose the simple ones here for examples, so the rest of these'll be a lot harder, but there are other ways to figure out certain squares or otherwise narrow down the possibilities."

"I see."

"Yeah, the concept is simple enough."

"Too simple, really. Too simple for this."

"I wouldn't say that. I mean, I only know what to do because I've seen these before. Someone who hadn't wouldn't have a clue."

"That's not what I was referring to," Liri said. "I imagine the text explains the basic rules, in which case anyone able to read it would know what to do. No, I'm saying that it seems too straightforward. The other cave had a puzzle, too, and like this one the setup was fairly simple, but there was a trick to it. I would expect this one to be similar. Hmm..." She closely examined the puzzle, and soon noticed something about the numbers for the eleventh row. "Ah, this is it. Hey, Tilea, I think this piece here is loose. Think you could use your power to pop it out for me?"

"On it!" Tilea said. The earth fairy focused on the piece of rock, using her ability to pull it out of the wall.

Liri grabbed the rock as it came free. "Thanks."

"What are you doing with that?" Sanae asked.

"Turning it over." Liri did exactly that, placing it back into the wall upside-down. "There we go. It was '1, 9, 1, 1', but now it's '1, 1, 6, 1'."

"Are you sure that was necessary?" Sanae asked.

Liri nodded. "Last time we had to turn the entire puzzle sideways. I find it highly likely this puzzle has a trick like that to it as well. And if I'm wrong, we'll just change it back."

"All right," Sanae said. "Okay, since I'm familiar with this sort of puzzle, I'll fill it in. It'll take a few minutes, though."

"That's not a problem. I have something else I can take care of while I wait."

"Got it."

As Sanae focused on the puzzle, Liri turned her attention to the design on the ground. As she had in the other cave, she produced a notebook and pen seemingly from nowhere and proceeded to copy down the design.

* * *

It wasn't far to the underground; the direct access tunnel to the nuclear plant was at the foot of the mountain, just a little ways beyond the mansion. From there, it was a straight descent, and Hikari and Sakuya were soon at the plant. Hikari led Sakuya through the plant to her office, explaining what had happened as she did.

"You can see why I came to you," Hikari said as she took a seat at her desk and Sakuya took one in front of it. "I don't think there's anyone else in Gensokyo who knows much of anything about temporality."

"Well," Sakuya said, "I do have some power over time, but Kaguya would probably have been a better choice."

"The Lunarian? Why?"

"She has the power of eternity. My own power is more localized. I can only stop time for myself. No matter how often I stop time or how long I do so for, only I am aware of it. For everyone else there is no interruption. I can stop time, but I can't actually _affect_ it. Kaguya is different. She can actually alter its flow. She cannot stop it, but she can affect how it flows. Until recently, she had the entirety of Eientei locked in eternity. Over a thousand years and the mansion didn't age a day. My power isn't something that could produce actual temporal anomalies, but Kaguya's is. I imagine she has far more experience with such things than I do."

"I see. So... are you saying I should try to meet with her instead?"

"No. I do have a fair degree of temporal knowledge, and am most certainly temporally sensitive. If there was a temporal anomaly here yesterday, there will be some lingering aftereffect, which I should be able to sense. I'll need to visit the site where it occurred."

"I'm not sure where that would be. The tunnel we came down is one possibility; did you sense anything odd there?"

"No, but I wasn't trying to sense anything at the time, so that doesn't say much. It's worth taking another look at, but I think it would be better to examine the core first. You said it took longer than it should have for Utsuho to ensure reactor stability; should I assume you've checked to make sure the process went properly?"

Hikari nodded. "There weren't any issues with the process; it just took up more time than it should have, as though it was moving at a slower rate than the rest of Gensokyo. That's why I thought it might be a temporal anomaly."

"I'll start there," Sakuya said as she got to her feet. "How do I reach it?"

Hikari got up as well. "I'll lead the way."

* * *

Liri finished copying the design shortly before Sanae finished the puzzle. As with the previous cave, the puzzle glowed green and a path opened. "Huh," Sanae said. "These normally give you a picture of something, but I guess this one doesn't, just a random-seeming arrangement. Not that they _have_ to give a picture, I guess. And it looks like you were right, Liri," Sanae said. "That row was backwards. I wonder how anyone's supposed to know that."

"It may be hinted at in the writing," Liri said, coming up beside her. "I'm more curious about why these puzzles are here at all. There are far more secure ways to achieve the same end."

"It's not about that. These are here because they're supposed to be. It's supposed to be solvable. That's how it works."

"How what works?"

"The stories," Sanae said. "These are very common in certain types of stories. Everything that's been happening recently, such as the Twisted and these caves, is like it came straight out of those stories. Or... mostly like that, at least. Anyways, these puzzles are normal for those stories, so I'm not surprised they're here. And further in there'll be a seal. Or there used to be, at any rate. I'm assuming it's been broken."

"Let's find out. Til, 'Rea, we're heading further in."

"Right!" Tilea said. "Everyone, onward! Let's go!"

"Indeed," Sanae said. "I'd like to see the seal for myself. Liri, lead the way."

"Of course," Liri said. She made her way into the new tunnel, the others following behind her.

* * *

 **And we are now officially beyond _End Fantasy_. It's entirely new material from here on out, so no more lists of changes.**

 **Initially, this chapter was going to be the one where the whole 'sealed evil' narrative began to truly be called into question. Sanae found exactly what she expected to find, a message from Liora to her former apprentice, but said apprentice immediately called bullshit on it, and explained just why Liora wouldn't have left it. Which isn't at all how the stories work, now, is it? And then there's the fact that the mentor's sacrifice is to save the student's life, but Liora died when Takeri was nowhere close, in a battle she'd expected to win. Not to mention the anomalies related to that fight that Hikari's investigating, with things taking more or less time than they should have.**

 **I'll freely admit that this story starts out fairly cliched, but that's only because it needs to; I had to set up the 'sealed evil' narrative before I could start questioning it. But apparently I overestimated people's tolerance for cliches. Given how common they are, and how many cliched stories are nonetheless popular, I figured a few chapters of such a story wouldn't be a major issue, but it seems I was wrong. The cliched plot was one of the main complaints about EF, so one of my goals with the revision was to make things clear earlier on that there's more to it than that.**

 **Anyways, this chapter has Liri finding another seal, and also the introduction of Akora and Alraune. Mostly, though, it's stuff that directly follows from the deaths of Liora and Wriggle. We have Mystia's introduction to life at the shrine, and the aforementioned discovery of Liora's message. And then there's also Hikari's investigation into what exactly happened, getting help from Sakuya to look into the possibility of temporal anomalies.**

 **Anyways, this marks the last of what I already had written, so from now on new chapters will be coming at more my normal pace, which, I'll admit, can be fairly slow sometimes. It can often a month or two between chapters, but they will come sooner or later. In the meantime, I really do encourage you to leave reviews, even if you don't think you have much to say. Even just pointing out a couple things you like is helpful, and of course it's also quite helpful to hear about anything you don't like. So yes, please, whatever your thoughts on the story are, please share them with me.**

 **Well, that's all for now. I'll post the next chapter as soon as it's written, and I hope I'll see you all there.**


	8. Chapter 7: Luna

**Chapter 7  
** _Luna_

"You're right," Sakuya said as she finished her examination of the reactor. "There was an anomaly here."

"And that's why ensuring reactor stability took longer than it should have," Hikari said.

"Well, yes and no. The process wouldn't actually have taken any longer than usual. What happened here was a timeflow desynchronization."

"I see," Hikari said. Then, "And that is...?"

"When time flows at two different rates. I'd say this was a reduction desync of about sixty percent."

"...I still don't know what that means."

"Well," Sakuya said, "you observed that the process was taking too long, right?"

"Yes," Hikari said, "although that wasn't until afterwards. We didn't notice it while it was actually happening."

"That's normal. You're not accustomed to non-uniform time flow. But you did notice it."

Hikari nodded. "Normally it only takes a couple minutes to ensure stability, but it took far longer this time."

"You said three or four times longer, right?"

"Well, I was... kind of exaggerating. According to our clocks, it was more like two and a half times."

"That matches what I'm sensing," Sakuya said. "A reduction of sixty percent, What thaat means is fairly simple. Take a five-minute period during that event, with Reiuji ensuring stability while Liora was coming to you. For you, five minutes passed during that five minutes, but here, in the reactor? No. Here, during that five minutes, only _two_ minutes passed."

"Wait," Hikari said, "what? That's... is that... that's really possible?"

"Ordinarily, no. That's what makes this an anomaly, the fact that it's normally not possible. Unless acted on by an outside force, time's flow is completely uniform."

"An 'outside force'? Are you saying someone _did_ this? Deliberately?"

"Not necessarily. It doesn't have to be a directed force; there are known instances of areas with particular energy confluxes that are temporally unstable as a result, though these are exceptionally rare. What I'm saying is that there's a definite cause. I don't know what that cause is, and yes, it could be deliberate action on someone's part, though I doubt it, if only because the only person in Gensokyo I know of who could is Kaguya and I can't see why she would. I only know that there _is_ a cause. This anomaly didn't just happen on its own. Hmm... you said there were other oddities, right? That Liora didn't know how the second group of pursuers caught up as quickly as they did?"

"Huh? Oh, um, yes."

"I'd imagine those pursuers were under the effects of an extension desync, that for them, _more_ than five minutes passed during that five-minute period. Two desynchronization anomalies, which together resulted in Liora's death. It seems unlikely that they just happened to occur at the same time."

"So.. we look into that? But... how?"

"I'm afraid I do not know," Sakuya said. "I know of nothing, in Gensokyo or elsewhere, that could cause what happened. Even Kaguya couldn't have done both, if only because she'd have to be present while causing the anomaly and she can't be in two places at once."

"Then... well, I guess you've done what you can, so... thank you."

"No thanks are needed," Sakuya said.

"Well, thank you, anyways. If... I may come to you again, if there's something more I need your help with. Or if I have more questions about temporal anomalies."

"That is fine."

"All right, then," Hikari said. "I'll lead you back out of the facility."

"Thank you," Sakuya said. The kappa exited the reactor area, and Sakuya followed behind her.

* * *

Liri could tell as soon as they entered the innermost chamber. "Yes, this seal has been broken. It's dead, lifeless, and whatever it was locking away is gone."

"One piece," Sanae said. "One of four, probably. That's the most common number in the stories, at least. No sign of whoever broke it, though. Or of whoever she was fighting."

"I wasn't expecting either of them," Liri said. "I'm more interested in the seal. The last one was active, but this one's broken, so I can get a close look at it without having to worry about disrupting it." She took out her notebook again and began copying the design.

"I'll leave you to that. I don't think there's any point in me sticking around, though; there's pretty much no chance I'll learn anything about either or those youkai here. I think I'll head back to Greentree, see if there's anyone there who might know-"

Sanae couldn't even finish her sentence before Tilea was in her face. "No! We all came in together, so we all have to leave together!"

Alraune chuckled. "And just why is that?"

"Because that's how it works. The group has to stay together until the adventure's done!"

"Just go with it," Liri said.

"Well, all right," Sanae said. "I suppose I can wait for a few minutes. I was actually going to suggest we meet in Greentree, Liri – I have an idea about these seals I'd like to discuss with you – but we can all head back together, too."

"Good," Tilea said. "Oh, we can go back to the other room to wait, though. Hey, 'Rea! Let's go there and do... um, something!"

Another chuckle from Alraune. "Sure thing, Til."

* * *

As was often the case, today saw Reisen in the Human Village selling medicine. And as she usually did, once she was finished for the day she started making her way to Keine's house. However, she soon found her path blocked by two armed and angry-looking men. "And just where are _you_ going?" one of them said.

Reisen just sighed. "This again? I'm going to visit Keine. Like I always do."

"Oh, really? And why don't I believe that?"

 _Are these people_ ever _going to realize I won't let them provoke me into attacking?_ "How should I know? I'm not a satori."

Now the other man spoke. "One of the hunters died. Another hunter stumbled across his body on her way back. Didn't think we'd find out so soon, did you?"

"And you think I'm to blame why, exactly?"

"Because we're not stupid," the first man said. "You've been feeding information to other youkai, haven't you? Telling them who's going to be where, where they can wait to ambush humans who're leaving the village. Why else would you be here?"

"Um, to sell medicine?"

"Like we're going to believe that's the real reason you're here. It's probably not even real medicine at all, is it? You're giving people something to make them easier targets for your youkai friends."

"Even if I _would_ do that, which I wouldn't the only youkai I spend time with are rabbits, and they don't even eat meat."

"Just shut up!" the second man said. "We're not going to let you trick us into thinking you're friendly! You may have that naive idiot Keine fooled, but not us!"

"Yeah, sure. Oh, speaking of Keine, I really should get going."

Reisen moved to pass between the two men, but they quickly closed that opening. And then, to their surprise, Reisen vanished. Or, rather, appeared to, because that hadn't been Reisen at all. While they'd been focused on the illusion, Reisen had moved unseen around the pair. Now that she no longer had line-of-sight to their eyes, however, the illusion vanished from their sight, and the two men, looking around wildly, soon spotted Reisen behind them, facing them while walking backwards.

The first man tried to tackle Reisen, but once again he was seeing only an illusion. And as the man got back up, he and his companion saw Reisen, running away, duck around a corner, and they ran after her, but again it was an illusion.

Reisen just shook her head as she resumed walking. _Are these people_ ever _going to learn to shield their eyes from me?_

Of course, she hoped they never learned. Her illusions were the result of her manipulating the light waves people were seeing, which was why she had to direct it at their eyes, and _her_ eyes were the channel for her power. Actual eye contact wasn't required, but she did need to be able to see their eyes. And if these... _people_ figured that out, learned to shield their eyes from her sight, avoiding physical conflict would suddenly be a lot harder.

* * *

"Okay," Sanae said, "so Greentree is here, which means the seal we just visited is about... here." She took a pen and marked a spot on the map. "Liri, do you remember where the other seal is?"

The group had left the cave as soon as Liri finished copying down the design of the seal. Akora was still waiting when they emerged, but she had no interest in accompanying the group back to Greentree, so she left. Tilea, too, decided not to hang around while the group discussed things, so it was just Liri, Alraune, and Sanae who went back to Greentree. After visiting a food stand and then taking seats at a nearby table, Liri, at Sanae's request, produced a map of Gensokyo and spread it out across the table.

Liri took the pen and made a mark of her own on the map, near the Misty Lake. "It was right around here."

"All right. We don't know where the other seals are, or even how many there are, but I'm hoping we can find a clue from the ones we do know. There's a fairly good chance the location of the seals is meaningful, and if we can determine how, we might be able to figure out where the others are."

"I see," Liri said. "Well, it depends on the nature of the seals. You've said all of them are sealing away a single person, this 'Mephilia'. In that case, I'd say the most likely setup is to have the seals arranged around a central point. Mephilia would be at the center, and the seals would all be the same distance from it, arranged to form a regular polygon of the appropriate number of sides. However, I don't think that's the case here. The seal we just saw was broken, but the one I found near the lake was active, and it was directed inwards. The seal was around the object in its center."

"Each piece is sealed separately, then," Sanae said.

"Except that it's an individual who's sealed. You can't split someone into multiple pieces like that." _Although I guess that wouldn't be the first impossible thing about all this._ "It would be more likely that each individual seal is holding a key and those keys are used to release Mephilia, but that theory has its own problems. The seals are all focused inward. The barriers on the entrances and the guardians and the puzzles are there to keep people out, but the seals themselves aren't. They're not keeping anyone out; they're keeping whatever's sealed _in_. Which indicates it's something that is itself inherently dangerous, something that could escape on its own if not properly contained."

"...All right."

"Basically," Liri said, "what I'm saying is that I have no idea if the seal locations are related. What is it that indicates to you they might be?"

"The stories, of course. The locations are often not random. Being arranged in a pattern or around a central point like you suggested is common, as is being at some manner of focal point, an intersection of ley lines or whatnot."

"Ley lines?"

"Right, we don't actually have those. Ley lines are seen sometimes in outside-world fiction. They're basically veins of magic in the land, though which magic energy flows throughout the world."

"I see. Then yes, nothing of that sort actually exists."

"Right. Anyways, seals in those stories are often located at concentrations of ley lines or other focal points. Or sometimes they're just spread out so the heroes have to journey between them to lengthen the story."

"Well," Liri said, "these 'ley lines' may not actually exist, but there are focal points of various energies. Such points make poor locations for seals, however. There's no benefit; in fact, the energies at such points would make forming a stable seal more difficult."

"So... you don't think their locations are related?"

"I don't know. There are too many questions, too many uncertainties, to say for sure either way. But let me take a look here." Liri studied the map for a bit, then, "Well, that's interesting."

"What? You see something?"

"I'm not sure. It could very easily be a coincidence – I certainly don't see how it's relevant to a seal – but it looks like both locations are the same distance from the Hakurei Border."

"The border? Wait, but the lake is nowhere near the border."

"Neither is Greentree. Gensokyo isn't exactly a small land."

"Well, it can't be any larger than what it was outside, right? Before the separation?"

"Actually, it is larger than the area initially enclosed and separated."

"...Right. Even after so long in Gensokyo, I still forget sometimes that the outside's 'common sense' has no place here."

"Anyways," Liri said, "yes, both seals are a fair distance from the border, but it's the _same_ distance. And..." She examined the map again. "...yes, I think so. Both locations may be at... well, not really 'focal points', but similar. Areas where resonance from the barrier converges. It's hard to say for sure - the border's irregular shape can make these spots difficult to pinpoint - but I think both seals are at such areas. I'm not sure why they would be, though."

"I'm... not entirely certain what you're saying," Sanae said, "but I understand the idea of convergence points. Are there any other such points the same distance from the border as those two?"

"Give me a moment." Liri studied the map again, occasionally tracing routes or the border or marking spots as she did. "Yes," she said eventually, "there are a few potential spots. Again, it's hard to be completely sure where a convergence point is, but there are some definite candidates the same distance from the border as the two seals."

"A good place to start looking, if nothing else. Where are they?"

"They're the spots I marked. As you can see, most of them are just out among the land, but there are a couple with more notable locations. There's one here, actually, near the mountain. This one here is close to another youkai village. And then there's this one, right in the middle of the Garden of the Sun."

"Oh," Sanae said. Then, "wait, isn't that place close to the border?"

"Not the Hakurei Border," Liri said. "It's near the Sanzu, but that's a completely different border."

"I see. Um... isn't it a dangerous place, though?"

"Only if you get on Yuuka's bad side," Alraune said. "How about I handle that one? I'm on pretty good terms with her. I'll check that spot out."

"By yourself?"

"Alraune is more than capable of looking after herself," Liri said. "You don't need to worry about her."

"Well... all right. I can check the spot near the mountain, but I don't think I can spare the time to search more than a couple of the others. I have too much else to worry about right now."

"We'll look into them."

"Thank you," Sanae said. Then she got to her feet. "Well, I should be getting back. Again, thank you for your help. and if I learn anything, I'll be sure to share it with you."

"Likewise," Liri said. "Good luck."

"To you as well," Sanae said.

* * *

Kiro sighed. "Those idiots. How did they think harassing that Reisen girl would help?"

"They're afraid," Sirena said. "You know that. There have been more disappearances lately than usual, and now we have those 'Twisted' things, too."

"I know that, but harassing every youkai who happens to come to the village isn't going to help. Reisen's always been friendly, and there's no telling how many deaths the medicines she sells have prevented. She's given us no reason to suspect her of anything."

"Unfortunately, reason has little relevance here. The people are afraid. These things are happening, and nobody knows why. They want an explanation, a cause. something they can blame for it all. And yes, there's no reason to suspect Reisen of anything, but they don't need any reason. Youkai are usually to blame for the disappearances, and for other things that may happen, so it's natural they'd assume a youkai is to blame, and Reisen simply happens to be a target of opportunity."

The two men who'd confronted Reisen earlier had made no attempt to hide their actions; in fact, they were proud of the fact that they stood up to a 'filthy youkai'. Kiro and Sirena had already planned to meet that afternoon in the unoccupied house that served as the usual meeting spot for what even he was starting to think of as 'Kiro's group', and it was only natural that the altercation was on both of their minds.

"It's not fair to her," Kiro said, "and it doesn't help anyone. We need to focus on finding whoever's _actually_ responsible, not wasting time and effort harassing innocents."

"A lot of them don't think she is innocent. Even if she has nothing to do with current events, she _is_ a youkai, and that's enough for a lot of people. And let's be fair; many youkai _are_ dangerous."

"But others aren't. Any effort we spend 'defending' ourselves from them is wasted. We need to focus on the real danger."

"I agree, of course," Sirena said. "The problem is that we don't know who or what is responsible for current events, and the people don't want to wait until we do. They're afraid, and with that fear comes a need to take action. It's a need they can't ignore and can only tolerate for so long. They feel as though they _have_ to do something, and if the danger doesn't pass soon, they're going to."

"I know," Kiro said. "I just hope it doesn't come to that."

"I do, too," Sirena said. "I do, too."

* * *

Though it was getting close to sunset, Liri still went to her usual spot upon her return to the Forest of Magic, still wanting to get some work in on her magic. She'd been making progress with her work on her integration magic, and she didn't want to let that fall to the side. She wanted to keep on it, even if it was just briefly. But she'd barely gotten started when she found that she had a visitor. Someone she didn't recognize had come into the clearing, and Liri turned to face her.

"Hello, there," the woman said. "Liri Takoru, I take it?"

"Um, yes. Who might you be?"

"You can call me Luna," the woman said. "I was looking for you, and was told you could often be found here."

"I see." That in itself wasn't odd – it was well known among the residents of the forest that Liri favored this particular spot – but she had no idea who this 'Luna' was or what she might want. "And... what can I do for you?"

"I received your message," Luna said. "You know, the one you left with your replacement barrier at the convergence point near the lake?"

 _The seal I placed over the entrance? Then..._ "You're the one who made the original barrier, then."

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

"There was enough residual energy from it to key the message to."

"Ah, of course," Luna said. "Well, then there's little point in being coy about it, I suppose. Yes, it was mine."

"I have to say," Liri said, "I'm surprised to see you. The barrier was extremely weak. It had gone long enough without maintenance that I thought you'd either abandoned it or were dead."

Luna chuckled. "Well, not 'dead', but I was... indisposed. I was under seal, in fact."

That put Liri on guard; people didn't get sealed without reason. "You were sealed? Why?"

"It would take a while to explain, but I can assure you it wasn't because I posed a danger to anyone. As a matter of fact, I did it to myself."

"You... and why would you do that?"

"Short version? I was near the end of my life, and the sealing was a necessary part of the means I found to extend it."

Liri supposed this wasn't impossible – if nothing else, she knew that the hermit Toyosatomimi no Miko had undergone something of the like – but even so, she was suspicious. "And just what would those means be?"

"Well, existence is a cycle of life, death, and rebirth. What I did was to skip over death and proceed straight to rebirth. Normally, a reborn soul begins each life anew, with no trace of its previous life, but in bypassing that part of the cycle, I remained myself in my new life. But I was again a child, and my full being and power was too much for my child form. I had to lock it behind a seal until my new self reached a point where I could withstand it, or else it would have destroyed me."

Liri took a moment to process this. "That's not possible. You can't just 'skip' dying."

"For others, yes, it would be impossible, but not for me. I was able to do it because I am a being of cycles, as is reflected in my name. Luna, the moon, a thing which not only has a cycle of its own but is associated with multiple other cycles, such as that of day and night, or that of the tides."

Liri thought about that. There was certainly no reason a youkai manifestation of the concept of cycles couldn't exist, and if that is indeed what this 'Luna' was, she likely was indeed able to exert some level of influence over cycles. Whether that would include the cycle of life and death she didn't know, but it certainly wasn't impossible. _I suppose I can accept that explanation, at least for now._ "All right. I won't pretend I don't still have questions, but we can lay those aside for the time being. I'm sure you didn't come here just to introduce yourself. You want me to let you through my barrier, I take it?"

Luna nodded. "I could just break through it, but it seems quite well-made. Breaking it would take a great deal of time and energy, and I'd much rather not have to expend either."

"I see. And I assume your business there has to do with the seal. If you made the original barriers, than should I assume you're responsible for the seals within? And for the security measures, as well?"

Luna hesitated, though only briefly. "No. Those were... made by another. One who is long since dead. I was able to bypass part of my own cycle of life and death, but that's not something I can do for another. She's dead, and... I have to admit I have no idea what she did to make the seals, or the puzzles, or those guardians. I'm not exactly ignorant when it comes to runes, and I can certainly make a seal, but I can't make even the slightest bit of sense out of any of what she did."

 _You're not the only one._ "I see. That's unfortunate. I'm rather interested in those constructs myself, but it sounds like you know little more than I do. Well, I suppose there's nothing I can do about that. Well, anyways, what are you planning to do in that cave? Strengthen the seal?"

"Yes. I may not understand it, but I can certainly give it more energy. The other seals are broken – all four of them by now, I'd wager – so it's the only one left."

 _Four other seals. So five in total, then. Hmm... well, if she's telling the truth, she'll know where they all are._ Liri produced her map. "Can you show me where the other seals are?"

Liri took a look at the map. "Actually, it looks like you've done a pretty good job of figuring that out yourself. I assume these marks are your estimates of possible locations, and your estimates were clearly good." She indicated the Greentree seal and three of the other marked locations, including the Garden of the Sun – thought not, however, the one near the mountain. "There are seals here, here, here, and here. Five in total. Though, again, the one by the lake is the only one that's yet unbroken."

"I prefer the broken ones, actually. That way I can study them without risk of disrupting them."

"Ah, of course. Your interest is academic."

"In large part," Liri said. "Sanae thinks the seals are connected to the Twisted – I don't know if you've heard the name, but you can probably figure out what I'm referring to – and I'm inclined to agree with her. So there's a more practical interest right now, too."

"'Twisted', hmm? A good name for those things, really. And you're right. Their source is what's been sealed. Clearly the seal is weakening – especially since four of the seals are broken – so I'd like to strengthen it."

"Seems logical. All right, then. You know where it is, of course; I'll meet you there tomorrow morning."

"Very good. I'll see you then."

Liri watched as Luna flew away. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the woman; Luna certainly did seem to know enough about the seals, but that didn't mean her purpose was what she said. But if she'd received Liri's message, then she was at least the one who'd locked the caves away, even if she hadn't made the actual seals. Still, though, Liri had too many question about her to just take her at her word. She had no idea if any of what Luna said about herself was true, after all, and she didn't want to just immediately trust the woman. Not without some manner of independent confirmation of as much of what Luna'd said as possible. Fortunately, she knew of somewhere she'd be likely to find that information.

Liri left the clearing, heading for the Human Village. Her integration work would have to wait; right now, she had a more pressing matter to attend to.

* * *

 _Luna, the youkai of cycles. Another important figure in these events. An older youkai, one who, in fact, was facing the prospect of death in her near future. But as a youkai of cycles, she was able to skip dying and proceed straight to rebirth, thus retaining her self instead of losing it in ordinary reincarnation. Her power was too much for a new youkai's body to withstand, though, so she'd had to lock much of who and what she was away behind a seal. This resulted in the one known as Rumia, essentially a child version of Luna. What of her power remained outside the seal manifested as Rumia's power over darkness, the dark being representative of one half of the cycle of day and night. Of course, Rumia's darkness ability was weak, a far cry from what Luna was capable of even in that one area._

 _I know little about Luna aside from her role in these events. I do, however, know that she was a particularly old youkai before her rebirth. As is common for youkai of such long lives, she'd been known by many names – Tenebra, Noctia, Nycta, Tsuko, Mephilia, Dala, and so on – but her true name is Luna, and that seems to be the one she prefers._

 _I don't know what all Luna did during the events in question. Liri knows more, but she and I are hardly on speaking terms. And as for Luna herself, it seems she enjoyed being Rumia enough that once she'd done what she needed to do as Luna, she remade her seal and retreated behind it, choosing to return to being Rumia._

* * *

As she flew away from the clearing, Luna considered her interaction with the magician Liri Takoru.

Finding Liri had been simple, but speaking to her had revealed some surprises. Luna hadn't realized the message was keyed to the old barrier's energy, and that fact that it was and yet had responded to her was... interesting. After all, despite what she said to Liri, she'd actually had nothing to do with the barriers. Or the seals, for that matter. She'd told the truth about sealing herself away, but as for the rest... well, her honesty had varied.

Luna hadn't lied when she said she knew who'd made the seals. Or perhaps she had. She did know how the seals had come to be, but there was no one who made them. In fact, she wasn't entirely certain if it could even be said they were 'made' at all. But either way, she'd had nothing to do with it, so how was it that the barrier over the entrance had matched her energy? _Hmm... could it have been the cycle? Is there some role it has in mind for me?_ Although she wasn't' really that interesting in answering that particular question. After all, even if it did have a role for her to play, she had no intention of going along with it.

She doubted anyone in Gensokyo, perhaps with the exception of Yukari, truly understood what was going on. _Well, the Yama, perhaps. They likely know._ But nobody else. And even had they known, would they have understood it? Or even wanted to understand it? After all, it wasn't exactly pleasant to know. But she knew.

Luna was a being of cycles. And these events, too, were part of a cycle. The Twisted, the seals, all of it. She could see the cycle, knew what it would bring. But that would be for others to deal with. Gensokyo would have to survive this iteration of the cycle without her, as she had different, though related, business to attend to. That business was why she was visiting the seals, though it was not for the seals themselves, but rather for the barrier resonance points they were located at. Those points were used by the cycle likely because they had existing significance, but it was the actual resonance points Luna was interested in. What she was doing at each of those points was making preparations, setting things up for what was to come. Then she'd wait until the right time, when the current iteration neared its end and the cycle was thus vulnerable. It was at that moment that she would act, and when she did, she would leave the rest of Gensokyo to worry about surviving the cycle.

Luna intended to break it.

* * *

 _You didn't question it at all, did you? I've told you repeatedly that whatever you think you know about the true nature of the threat we faced is wrong, but you never accepted it, did you? As soon as you saw one thing, one little thing, that confirmed your existing preconceptions, you latched onto it is proof that you were right, despite the fact that you knew,_ knew _, it was false. Luna cannot be Mephilia, and you knew it. Mephilia remains sealed at this point in the events, but Luna was released from her seal. They_ cannot _be the same person, and yet when you saw 'Mephilia' in the list of Luna's other names, you never thought to question it at all._

 _Perhaps now you believe me when I say you do not understand the nature of the threat we faced. But probably not. You've come this far holding onto your preconceptions; why would this be enough to shatter them? You still think you know how events will progress, what conclusion they'll lead to. But you're wrong._ Wrong _. But it doesn't matter how many times I say it, does it? You see the story you_ expect _to see, unable to look to the true nature beneath its familiar surface. Unable to even accept that there_ is _anything beneath what it appears to be._

 _Fools._

* * *

"They attacked you," Keine said.

"Well," Reisen said, "they tried to. Of course, I wasn't exactly where they thought I was. Made it hard for them to hit me. Made it easy to lose them, too."

"That's good, at least." Keine sighed. "Why would they think you of all people are an enemy? Don't they realize how many people would be deal if not for the medicines you sell?"

"Of course they don't. All they see is 'youkai'; they don't care about anything else."

Keine was about to reply, but she was cut off by a knock on the door. She opened it to find a woman she did not recognize, dressed in violet. "Hello," she said. "How can I help you?"

"You are Keine Kamishirasawa?"

"Yes, and this here is Reisen. And you are...?"

"Liri Takoru. I'm a magician from the forest."

"I see. And what can I do for you, Liri?"

"I understand you're the keeper of the Gensokyo Chronicle. I find myself in need of information, and I think the Chronicle is the best place to look."

"I see. What sort of information are you looking for?"

"Information about a person. Someone who might be related to current events. I don't know if Sanae's mentioned me to you, but we were both looking into things, so we've been cooperating."

"Ah. Well, I don't think Sanae found much when she looked through the records, but you're welcome to take a look for yourself. Please, come in."

"I'm looking for something different," Liri said as she entered, Keine closing the door behind her. "A person, as I said."

"Do you have a name?" Liri nodded. "That makes things significantly easier, then. It can be hard finding information on a certain person or event, given how many different texts compose the Heida records, so I made an index. If you give me this person's name, I can bring you any volumes she's mentioned in."

"Her name is Luna."

"All right, then. Hold on for a moment."

As Keine went into another room, Reisen turned to Liri. "I hope you didn't run into trouble in the village."

"Nothing more than glares," Liri said. "Well, that and the person I asked for directions to here was somewhat... curt."

"You weren't followed or anything? Youkai visitors are usually followed."

"Not that I noticed. Someone skilled at concealing her presence could have escaped my notice."

"They wouldn't have tried. They want us to know they're there."

"Well, again, I noticed nothing of the sort. Just glares and curt responses. From what I've heard, I was expecting worse."

"It's probably because you're a magician," Keine said as she reentered the room holding a pair of books. "Most of them don't see your kind as 'true' youkai. Here." She handed the books to Liri. "These two both have entries on a youkai named Luna. I've marked them for you. Feel free to use the study while you examine them."

"Thank you," Liri said. "I believe I'll do just that."

* * *

"I hope you congratulated them," Harui said as Kiro entered the house.

Kiro didn't have to ask what she was talking about. "They attacked someone who's done us no harm, whose medicines have helped many of us. Such actions only foster hatred. There are many youkai who deserve such hatred, but Reisen is not one of them."

Harui sighed. "I don't understand how you've gone for so long without realizing the truth."

"I feel like I should be saying that to you. You _know_ that not all youkai are hostile. You know how much more freely they visited the village when we were younger, how friendly they were. And they weren't attacking us, either, were they? In fact, attacks from youkai were at an all-time low back then."

"They were only pretending, getting us comfortable with their presence so they'd have an easier time. And the ones that still come here still are pretending. Do you really think _any_ youkai's medicine could possible be helpful? No, it's just a trick. I don't know what that stuff is doing to the people who take it, but it's all to make us easier prey."

A sigh from Kiro, now. "Harui, _you_ take youkai medicine, have been for years."

"I take medicine from a _magician_ They're not truly youkai, and you know it."

Kiro didn't say anything more. There was no point; he knew he'd never convince his wife she was wrong. It was funny, really; so many others in the village thought her attitude was perfectly understandable, even ones who didn't agree with it. 'Of course she hates youkai', people would say. 'One of them took her son'. Which was true. Kiro and Harui's only child had indeed been taken by a youkai, and though the hunters quickly tracked this youkai down and killed it, they were too late to save the boy. But that wasn't why Harui hated youkai. The other villagers always seemed to forget that she'd always hated youkai, even back when she and Kiro were just starting to get to know each other.

The human village was small enough that pretty much everyone had met everyone else at some point, but not so small that you truly 'knew' everyone. Still, the kids all knew each other, largely because there was only one school, and that was where Kiro and Harui had met. They hadn't really spent much time together until they were older, though, but when they did, they soon decided to marry. But in the years since then, the romance had... faded.

Truth be told, these days Kiro saw his wife more as an obligation than anything else. The good kind, yes, one he was more than willing to take on, but an obligation nonetheless. Of course, there'd always been some of that. Harui could hardly look after herself, after all. She wasn't good for much of anything outside the house, thanks to her illness. Any sort of real activity was too much for her, and she didn't have the knowledge or skills to do much else; her illness had plagued her from a young age, and her education had suffered as a result. In fact, Kiro often wondered how much of their relationship stemmed from pity on his part.

Both of them knew Harui didn't have much longer to live. A few years at most. Oh, the medicines of Eirin Yagokoro could extend that time, true. Eirin might even be able to cure her. But Harui would never accept it. She outright refused any youkai-made medicine aside from that of magicians, and there were limits to what the salves and potions of a magician could do for her.

In all honesty, Kiro had to admit to himself, Harui's illness could very well be the only reason he'd stayed with her. He wasn't really unhappy with their relationship, but he had to admit that without that sense of obligation, without Harui's _need_ , he probably wouldn't still be with her. But as it was, she'd be helpless without him, and he wasn't willing to do that to her.

Even if he did much prefer the company of Ren.

* * *

Takeri was completely certain that recording hadn't actually been made by Liora, that it was somehow faked, so she'd taken it to an expert. She'd worked with Eisa before, on recording technology. Eisa was working with optical recognition, attempting to develop a program that could determine what it was seeing. She'd analyzed visual recordings from every direction, and was the leading expert in the field. If anyone could figure out what was up with 'Liora's' recording, it was her.

After taking the recording to Eisa, Takeri returned to Liora's workshop to examine the equipment. Everything was pretty much as she'd expected, and from Liora's notes, the setup seemed as good as she would've thought. Takeri could see exactly what she'd been doing with it, and agreed that it was the right way to go.

As Takeri was closing up the storage room, the door to the workshop opened. "You are here, then" Nitori said as she entered. "I thought you might be, when I saw you weren't at your workshop."

Takeri locked the storage room, then turned to her visitor. "Nitori. Wanted to check up on me, I take it? Don't worry; I'm ready for the next test whenever you are. I was just familiarizing myself with the setup."

"I... see," Nitori said. "That's... good. I... have the new components installed in the test unit. We can run the test tomorrow."

"All right." Takeri was surprised; this was nothing like Nitori. She didn't really know Nitori, though they had met before, but she knew enough to know Nitori's current behavior was highly unusual for her. She was too quiet, too timid. "Is something wrong?"

"I... it's about Liora," Nitori said. "I... I'm sorry. About Liora."

 _Huh. Didn't think she'd care._ "You don't need to be. Sanae told me what happened. It's not your fault; you didn't know more Twisted would show up."

"Well... no. Takeri, it... it is my fault. She fought them alone because of me."

"Because you had the parts, and neither of you wanted them to get damaged. Still not your fault. You didn't know, Nitori."

"No, it's... not that. I... said things to her. True things. Things we all know. That I'm smarter than her, that she has me beat in her area of specialization but is pretty much useless outside of it. And at the plant, too. I said I was the one who knew what I was doing with the parts while she didn't, and that I was the smart one. I didn't think anything of it. I mean, it's the truth. Everyone knows I'm at the top. I thought she knew, thought she realized it, but... Takeir, I... made her feel inferior. That's why she faced the Twisted alone. I didn't know it, but I pushed her into trying to prove herself."

Takeri took a moment to digest this. _Wait, does she actually believe that's what happened? That Liora went to her death because_ you _made her feel inferior?_ She'd heard a lot about Nitori, who was indeed the best of the kappa scientists. She'd heard about how arrogant Nitori could be, how self-centered, but she'd dismissed the wilder claims as the exaggeration of rumor. But now...

"I doubt that," Takeri said. "She was never one to care about 'proving herself'."

"She told me," Nitori said. "She called me just before she died. She said that's why she did it. She was still thinking about it, even as she was dying. Her last words were about not being able to match me."

Takeri was stunned. _She... gods, she actually_ believes _that!_ But Takeri knew it wasn't the truth. Sanae'd told her what Liora said on that call, and Nitori's version wasn't even close. But... _She actually thinks her version of events is correct. How the_ hell _did she manage to twist Liora's words like that without even realizing it?_

Nitori was continuing. "She wanted to prove she was worth something, because I made her feel worthless. That's why she died, Takeri. Because I made her feel worthless, and she was desperate to prove otherwise."

There was silence for a few moments, and then... laughter. Takeria just started laughing. Softly at first, then it quickly grew in volume and intensity as Nitori just stared at her in bewilderment. Not pleasant laughter, either. It was scornful, derisive – angry, even – and it kept going for quite some time. Eventually, though, it started to die down, and Nitori finally spoke. "Um... Takeri?"

Takeri just glared at Nitori for a moment, then, "You're an idiot."

"I- excuse me?"

"You're a stuck-up, arrogant, self-obsessed idiot. How can you possibly believe that's what happened? How are you so disconnected from the truth? Can you just not accept that this doesn't have a damn thing to do with you? Is that it? Just because you were there, you think it was because of you? You're twisting what actually happened beyond belief, just to make it about you. You know, I've heard about how arrogant you are, heard some pretty extreme rumors, but I thought those were as most exaggerations. Not any more. Turns out they fell short of reality. Liora _died_ , Nitori. She _died_! And all you can think about is yourself? Get out of here."

"Wha- um-"

"I said _get the fuck out of here!_ This is Liora's workshop; you even just being here is an insult to her memory that I won't accept! So I don't want to _ever_ see you in here again! I'll meet you at the test site tomorrow, but not here. Never here. And once we're done with this new optical camouflage system? I'll help you finish it, I've already agreed to do that, but once it's done, I'm not speaking to you again. Understand?"

"I-"

" _Do you understand?_ "

Nitori turned to leave, but as she stepped out of the workshop, she looked back at Takeri. "It was because of me. You're just fooling yourself." Then she closed the door behind herself as she left.

* * *

After reading the entries on Luna, Liri produced a piece of paper and wrote down a few notes. Then she produced a second piece of paper, placed it on top of the first, and chanted a brief spell. Then she took the second page, which now bore the same writing as the first. That one would be given to Patchouli, to be passed on to Sanae the next time the Moriya maiden checked in with her.

Liri picked up the first paper and both books, then exited the study to return the books to Keine. "Thank you," she said. "I believe I found what I was looking for."

"I'm glad to hear it," Keine said. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Liri handed her the paper. "I don't know if Sanae means to stop by again, but if she does, could you give this to her? I took some notes on what I've learned, and if you see her before I do, I'd like you to pass them on to her."

"Most certainly."

"Thank you," Liri said. "In that case, I'll be going now. I appreciate the help."

"Any time. Goodbye, then."

"Goodbye."

Liri exited Keine's house and took to the air, leaving the village behind. As she made her way back to the forest, she considered what she'd learned.

Even back then, it seemed, not much was known about Luna. She was a particularly old youkai at the time, apparently, and a particularly powerful one, too. She was a youkai of cycles, though what specifically that entailed wasn't really known. She generally kept to herself, it seemed, though on a couple occasions she'd been witnessed in a fight. Real fights, since the danmaku system hadn't been established then, and in both cases she'd overpowered her opponents with almost absurd ease. She'd displayed In battle powers of darkness, which fit with her nature as a being of cycles, given its place in that most well-known cycle of day and night.

All the information in the Chronicle fit with what Luna had said, but that information was quite incomplete. There was enough about her nature and power, but what was missing was anything about who she was. She'd been one of the many solitary youkai, and apparently neither Child of Miare who'd written about her was able to find anyone who could say much about her. That being said, she was known to be harmless unless provoked, never instigating fights or seeking conflict in any way, and she certainly never showed any hostile or otherwise destructive tendencies. She simply kept to herself.

Considering the information, Liri made her decision. She still didn't know enough to trust Luna, but it was almost certain Luna was one of the two youkai seen fighting at the Greentree seal, and most likely not the one who'd broken the seal. But she couldn't know what Luna's intentions truly were. She had only the word of an enigmatic individual as to that, and this wasn't enough. Still, though, Liri thought it highly unlikely she had hostile intentions. So although Liri would certainly be careful, she decided she would indeed allow Luna through the seal. After all, it was likely Luna could indeed break it if she needed to, so refusing wouldn't have accomplished much. Besides, Liri still had quite a few questions, and Luna was her best lead towards finally finding some answers.

* * *

 _Why are you even still here? There's no reason for you to continue. We both know that. I'm making this record so that there will be one, will be a record of what happened. But it doesn't matter to you, does it? Everything I say is meaningless to you, isn't it? Because it doesn't matter what I say. You'll believe what you believe. It doesn't matter if I record only what actually happened or if I just make everything up. Either way, you'll see the parts that match with what you already think and take them as truth while ignoring anything that goes against what you already think, just like you did when I gave you the falsehood that Luna was Mephilia. You've already proven that._

 _Or am I wrong? Are you going back to the start of my record, looking for other places where I might have lied? Questioning everything I've told you? Or maybe just wondering if I've simply gotten things wrong? No, of course not. No, you're probably going to ignore all this, too, aren't you? You'll just say I've lost my mind or some such thing, that I'm just raving, that these things I'm saying bare no resemblance to reality. Whatever it takes to convince yourself that you're right. Because you can't accept being wrong, can you? You can't, so you deny the truth, reject anything that contradicts what you believe._

 _Fools._

* * *

 **Yeah, I think the narrator's lost it.**

 **She's actually one of the more interesting characters, I think. For one, she's... well, not entirely of sound mind, as you may have noticed. She's also, well, not the friendliest of people, which combines with her questionable sanity to produce some interesting results. Such as her outright lying to the readers and then ridiculing any who believed her. Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, there have indeed been a few errors/inconsistencies/whatnot in her narration, and there will continue to be.**

 **Anyways, yeah, as the title indicates, Luna was a big focus for this chapter. And just to make sure it's clear, yes, everything she told Liri about her sealing is true. She was nearing the end of her life and, rather than die and reincarnate, she used her influence over cycles to skip the death part, allowing her to be reborn as herself. And yes, she did indeed have to lock her true power and being away within herself to prevent it from destroying her child self until the time when her form could withstand it. I'm not big on the whole 'sealed evil side' thing, so I came up with something I liked better.**

 **Also in this chapter we concluded the investigation of the Greentree seal and figured out the locations of the others. Sakuya did her examination of the generator, and indeed found evidence of a temporal anomaly. We saw some anti-youkai sentiment from villagers, and caught a glimpse of Kiro's home life as well. As I've said before, I'm trying to take a less black-and-white approach to the whole 'fantastic racism' thing, because while it's easy to have the 'racists' be the sort of one-dimensional bigots real-life racists so often are, it's a bit different when it involves beings who've been known to eat humans. There's a very real danger behind those attitudes here, because many youkai _are_ a danger to humans. That's why I went with the stereotypical racist character for Harui, to provide a contrast with Kiro's more understandable concerns. It's easy to condemn racists as wrong, but while that's certainly true of Harui, Kiro's a bit more complex of a character. I've been trying to convey that without making any sort of definite 'he's right to think that way' or 'he's wrong to think that way' statement, and I hope that's been coming across.**

 **Oh, and there was also Takeri's exchange with Nitori. I'm quite pleased with what I have planned for Nitori's character arc; I think it's interesting. It's certainly not a common direction, at least not in my experience, but I think it works. That's for later in the story, though. Right now, we see her arrogance and self-centeredness clash with reality, and Takeri is not happy with the result.**

 **Anyways, yeah, that's chapter 7 down. Please tell me what you think of it, and I'll see you all next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 8: The Seals

**Chapter 8  
** _The Seals_

Liri examined her barrier. "Something... happened to this. The message is gone."

"That was me," Luna said. "I didn't realize you'd keyed it to my energy, so I burned it out in order to make sure nobody else could receive it. I didn't want Herald knowing to look for you."

"Herald?"

"That's the only name she gave me. She's been breaking the seals. We met a couple days ago, and fought."

"Near Greentree Village."

"There was a village nearby, yes. Were we witnessed?"

Liri nodded. "That's what drew me to that site. Someone found the seal cave afterwards, and it sounded similar enough to this one that I thought it worth taking a look."

"And you found a broken seal."

"I did, yes. That was this 'Herald'?"

"It was. She'd already broken that seal by the time I arrived. I drove her off but was not able to kill her. She's been to the other seals, too. Only this one remains. Let's head in."

"One moment." Liri focused on the barrier, and... "All right, it's open."

Liri and Luna entered the cave and made their way into the guardian's room. "Inert," Luna said. "You defeated the guardian?"

"Myself and some friends, yes. That's what drew me to all of this, that guardian. There are multiple ways in which that isn't possible."

"I see. Well, I'm afraid I can't enlighten you on the subject. I don't know myself."

"The guardians were your companion's work, then."

"They were, yes. The puzzles, too." They approached the puzzle, which had indeed reset since Liri's last time here. Luna examined the writing, then looked at the grid. "Seems simple enough."

"Not quite. There's a trick to it."

"Rotating the grid, right? The hint in the description isn't exactly subtle."

"You can read that writing?"

Luna nodded. "You sound surprised."

"Well, no, not really. It makes sense. It's just not anything I can read."

"Really? And yet you still figured out the puzzle, even without the hint? I'm impressed."

"It was one of my friends who found the answer," Liri admitted. "Stumbled over it. We got lucky, really."

"I see. Well, either way, let's move on, shall we?" Luna rotated the grid, and Liri arranged the tiles correctly. With the puzzle again solved, the way opened, and the two of them proceeded into the seal room.

Liri stopped at the entrance to the seal chamber. "This is as far as I went. I didn't want to risk disturbing anything."

"Smart," Luna said, "but I'd have thought a magician would know how to avoid disrupting this."

"I wasn't alone, though even if I was, I would've made the same decision. You're right that I know how to ensure I don't disrupt such a seal, but I can't say for sure any of that would apply here. I took a closer look at the runes at the Greentree seal, and I couldn't make sense of them. If I hadn't seen this one first, I wouldn't have thought they were from a seal at all. I don't understand how such a mess could possibly form a seal."

"It didn't."

With that cryptic reply, Luna proceeded into the chamber. She focused not on any part of the seal, or even on the sealed object, but rather on a point directly above said object. There was no visible effect from what she did, and no change to the seal, but Liri could sense the energy flow, so she knew Luna was doing _something_. And whatever it was took no more than a few seconds. But while she didn't know what it was, she _did_ know that it hadn't affected the seal in any way. So once Luna was done and the pair had returned to the first chamber on their way out, Liri positioned herself to block the exit. "Tell me, Luna: what did you do in there? Because you certainly weren't strengthening the seal. Or doing anything at all to it, for that matter."

"I thought you would notice that," Luna said. "I'll admit that I haven't been entirely honest with you; my business here does not involve the seals. It's due to a property of these locations, the same property that's why the seals are here."

"Property? Are you talking about these areas being resonance points?"

"Indeed I am."

"That doesn't make sense. The resonance is a detriment to such seals."

"Normally, yes," Luna said, "but these seals are different."

"So, what, your former companion was able to use the resonance somehow? I find that hard to believe."

"My 'former companion' was a lie. She never existed. I do know how the seals came to be, but they were not made by any person or people. Nor, for that matter, were the barriers over the entrances."

"You say now that you didn't make the barriers, but I keyed my message to the barrier's signature, and it responded to you. Your power made that barrier."

"It did not. The message wasn't triggered; I found it while probing the barrier and activated it directly."

"That's not possible," Liri said, "not without damaging the barrier more than it had been. It was buried too deeply for that."

"Or, more accurately, you buried it deeper. It simply didn't stay where you'd put it. It was moved so that I would discover it and come to you. That is the role in which I was placed, and the cycle intervened to enable that role to be fulfilled. You see, I'm supposed to tell you of Mephilia, of what happened in the past and how she came to be sealed as she is. That's how the story goes, after all. But I... disagree with that role, and with the cycle as a whole. In fact, it is my intent to break this cycle, and what I did here was in preparation for this. I need all five resonance points to be primed, and now they are."

"You're speaking in riddles. Speak clearly."

"Not yet," Luna said. "And you can't force me to. You know that, I'm sure."

Liri did indeed; there was no doubt that Luna was by far the more powerful of the two. Still, she didn't step aside. "Then why tell me anything at all? Why give cryptic responses when you could have given none, could have just forced me aside without saying anything?"

"Because I wanted you to hear those responses, of course. You don't understand what's happening here, Liri, not yet. But you will, perhaps. You have the pieces; you just need to figure out how they fit together."

"But you won't just tell me. Why not?"

"If you figure all this out, you'll know why I'm not just telling you. And if you do figure it out, come to me. What I eventually need to do will be much simpler with the cooperation of one such as yourself. Now, do please move aside. I'd much rather not have to force you to."

"...Fine." Liri moved aside.

"Thank you. Again, if you figure out the truth, come to me." She told Liri just where to go, then moved past her into the tunnel. Then she turned and said one last thing. "When you realize the truth, ask yourself this: is the safety it provides worth the cost?"

And with that, Luna left.

* * *

The Garden of the Sun was considered one of the most dangerous places in Gensokyo, but though this wasn't entirely without reason, paying it a visit wasn't really _that_ much of a risk as long as you behaved properly. Granted, Yuuka could be a bit unpredictable at times, but in general, you were safe as long as you behaved politely. And, of course, kept your hands off of the flowers. Still, Yuuka was feared enough that most kept away; even the fairies mostly left the area alone. As such, visitors were rare enough that any were notable, and so when Alraune arrived at the garden, Yuuka soon came to greet her in person.

Alraune had never been hesitant to visit the Garden of the Sun, and had in fact been on good terms with Yuka right away. As a youkai of flowers, Yuka seemed to feel a sort of kinship with the plant youkai, and the two of them considered themselves friends.

It also helped that Alraune's level of power was every bit as high as Yuuka's.

"Well, well," Yuuka said as she landed in front of Alraune. "This is a surprise. Come to visit?"

"Actually, I'm here on business." As she always did, Alraune made a quick evaluation of Yuuka's current condition. There was no telling what state she would be in, after all. Fortunately, she seemed stable at the moment, so Alraune relaxed a bit. "A friend of mine is looking for something, and has reason to believe it can be found here. I'd be happy to stay for a bit after taking care of that, though."

"Then yes, let's get the business done with. And I must say, I'm curious what sort of business would bring you here."

"Then I'll get right to it. You're aware, of course, of the Twisted, are you not? The creatures that have been showing up for the past couple weeks?"

"Not creatures," Yuuka said. " _Things_ , not creatures. Creatures, even the most monstrous, are alive. These... 'Twisted', as you called them, they are not. They have no life within them. The name is apt; they are naught but a twisted mockery of existence."

"Yeah. Well, we've been finding these seals in caves that weren't there before, and we think they might be related. Apparently there could be one here, so I volunteered to investigate."

"Ah, yes. There is indeed one here, though I doubt you'll learn much from it. The seal is broken, and the runes are... strange. Meaningless, I would say, except that they were functional."

"Yeah, Liri – my friend; she's a magician – said the same thing. Anyways, yeah, I doubt I could learn anything about that, but that's not actually why I'm here. We're trying to confirm the seal locations – apparently that could well be significant – and we're also looking for someone. Someone else interested in the seals, trying to protect them."

"Hmm... and what, exactly, is it that's sealed? No clue remains in the cave here."

"I'm told it's a person, someone named 'Mephilia'. Apparently she's the source of the Twisted, and she's locked away by several seals."

"A person cannot be sealed that way," Yuuka said. "The seals likely direct inward to a central point, functions as multiple locks, in which case, yes, their location is quite important."

"We don't think that's the case. Liri's been to a seal that's not broken, and she says there was definitely something at that location. I realize it's impossible to seal a person in multiple places, but, well, let's just say that's not the only supposedly-impossible thing about all this. Anyways, there's a pretty good chance that this person we're looking for has some answers. I don't suppose you've had any such visitors?"

I have," Yuuka said. "Two, in fact. The first came as the cave appeared; I expect she's the one who broke the seal. She was very quick about it, too. She was in the cave before I could come to, let's say 'greet' her, and though I waited for her to emerge, she immediately flew away. She clearly had no interest in me or my garden, so I elected not to pursue. The other, though... I actually know her. Not as well as I know you, perhaps, but we'd met on several previous occasions. An old youkai, by the name of Luna. It's been quite some time since she was last seen. I thought her dead of age – that's how old she was – but now she's back, and young again as well. I guess her rebirth plan actually worked."

"Well," Alraune said, "that just raised a ton of questions. If there's a chance this 'Luna' is who we're looking for, though, I should probably learn as much as I can."

"I don't know a lot," Yuuka said, "but she's been here before, shortly before her disappearance. She said she had a way to skip death and be reborn still as herself, and apparently she needed to make use of the Hakurei Barrier in order to do so. The barrier's energy echoes throughout Gensokyo, and collects at several... let's call them 'resonance points'. One such point is here, in my garden, and she was here to prepare it so that she could then harness it."

"I know. In fact, that's why we thought there could be a seal here. Both the ones we've found were at resonance points."

"I see. Well, that is indeed true of the cave here as well. Luna's recent visit was again to prepare this point such that she could harness it, although she said it was for a different purpose this time."

"She was seen at another seal cave, too. You think she wants to harness that resonance point, as well?"

"Apparently there are five points she needs to use."

"I see. And we know two of those points are at seals. I wonder... might the other three points she wants to use be the ones at the other seals?"

"I cannot say for sure," Yuuka said. "She was... quite cryptic. She did imply there was a connection, though, so yes, I'd say there's a very good chance you're right."

"Huh. Well, yeah, that does sound like a bit much to be a coincidence. I don't suppose you know where I can find this 'Luna'?"

"I do not."

"I see. Well, either way, I did get some useful information, so thank you."

"You're most welcome," Yuuka said. "Now, then, if your business is concluded, let's head inside, shall we? I'll have some tea prepared, and we can 'catch up', as they say. It _has_ been a little while since your last visit, after all."

"Liri'll want sketches of the runes in the cave, but once I've done that, sure."

"That won't be necessary. I've copied them down myself. They are, after all, most intriguing. I can simply copy those for you."

"Well," Alraune said, "in that case, yes, by all means, let's head inside. Lead the way."

"Of course." Yuuka took flight over the garden to the mansion of Mugenkan, Alraune following right behind.

* * *

 _Yuka Kazami. One of the most feared youkai in Gensokyo. And not_ quite _without reason, though she's not quite the terror she's made out to be. I actually understand her, in a way. You might, too, if you understood what she is. Sure, you may know she's a youkai of flowers, but have you ever thought about what that_ means _? No, of course you haven't. You never thought that might mean anything at all, did you?_

 _Ask yourself this: what is the purpose of a flower? What function do they have? Yes, many find them pleasant to look at, but that is not why they exist. A flower is, in essence, a reproductive organ. It exists to spread its seeds, to allow more of its kind to be born and to grow. Turn, then, to Yuka. Being a youkai of flowers, she is, in essence, a youkai of reproduction. Think, then, about what that means about her._

 _Yuuka was quite promiscuous, as would be expected, and bore many children over the centuries from many partners, human and youkai alike. She was not a caring mother, but that, too, is to be expected, for neither is a flower. She's never spared a thought for any of her children, and why would she? It's not in her nature. A flower cares not for growing its seeds, only for spreading them. So too, then, does Yuka care only for birthing her children, and nothing beyond._

 _Yuka was not always as feared as she is today. Once, she was an object not of terror but of desire. As a flower's form is to attract insects for pollination, so too was hers to attract mating partners. She was quite beautiful, and no end of men desired her. But many of them were... not pleasant. She was oft mistreated, sometimes out of malice but other times out of apathy, or because some men enjoyed such... activities. They hurt her, but... she didn't stop them. Even then she was powerful, but all she cared about was a man's seed. As long as she could get that, she tolerated whatever they did to her. Butshe did not emerge from such things unscathed._

 _Over time, Yuka was... damaged, let's say, by what she endured. And, eventually, it was too much. She was pushed too far, and the man who pushed her over the edge... they never found all of his pieces. And he wasn't the only one she killed. Many died that night, and word soon spread of what had happened. Yuuka, previously an object of desire, found herself instead an object of fear. Which was fine with her. She came to enjoy it, in a way. But she couldn't accept being unable to fulfill her purpose. So she didn't._

 _Yuka found no longer any willing partners, found that she was either fled from or attacked if she entered any settlement, human or youkai. So she turned to unwilling partners. She took youkai (whom of course often don't have different sexes as humans do), and also human men, by force and had her way with them. Then she released them, though they weren't always in good condtion. She developed a fondness for sexual torture, things the outside world would call 'bondage' or 'sadism' or 'domination', but often taken to extreme levels. Not everyone survived her... 'affections', especially humans (being as they are more frail than youkai), and those who did were often quite, well, 'worse for wear', as Lady Kochiya might say._

 _Over time, Yuuka's promiscuity fell somewhat. She no longer takes nearly as many partners as she used to, though she does still take them. And she is still just as feared._

…

 _You believed every word of that, didn't you? Every single word. I lied to you once before, and yet you still believe me without question. Idiots, all of you, soo accepting of what you're told. But It is all true this time. Or is it? I could be lying there, too. In fact, some of what I said is, in fact, somewhat less than completely accurate. Do you believe that? You shouldn't. It's not true. Or is it? You should be asking that. But you aren't, are you? No, you're still not thinking. You won't. You just accept what you're told, accept it without question._

 _Idiots._

* * *

Sanae wasn't sure what she'd find at the potential seal location near the mountain, but she certainly hadn't expected to find Liri there waiting for her. "Liri," Sanae said as she landed in front of the magician. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. I thought you were going to check other sites."

"I've... acquired new information," Liri said. "I thought you needed to know. I left a summary with Keine, but I'd rather talk to you in person, and I knew you'd be checking this area."

"I see. I take it this is important, then?"

Liri nodded. "Someone approached me yesterday evening. She said her name was Luna, and I'm fairly certain she's one of the two youkai who fought at the Greentree seal. I believe she's the one you've been looking for. She said as much, said that she's trying to keep Mephilia sealed."

"Really? Great! Maybe now I can finally get some answers."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. She said that she's trying to keep Mephilia sealed, yes, and that she knew the one who made the seals a thousand years ago. She told me that yesterday. She'd found me from the message I left at that first seal I found, and that message was keyed to the magic signature of the barrier over the entrance."

"So she _is_ the one who made those."

"I assumed as much, but... well, after our meeting, I paid Keine a visit and looked Luna up in the Heida records. I found fairly little there, but nothing that looked strange, so this morning I met her at that first seal. She said she was going to strengthen it, but..."

"She broke it," Sanae said, "didn't she?"

"She didn't do anything at all to it, actually," Liri said. "She did _something_ , but it wasn't to the seal. Remember, the seals are located at resonance points, and I believe that whatever she did was to the resonance point. But it wasn't to the seal, I know that much. So I confronted her, and she said..."

* * *

"They're reaching a limit," Sirena said. "Something's going to happen, and soon, and it won't be pretty."

The body had been found early in the morning, as the farmers headed out to the fields. Another dead body, killed and eaten, the remains simply discarded. Kiro and Sirena were in there usual meeting spot, just the two of them, discussing the news, or more specifically the village's reaction to it.

"I know," Kiro said.

"Another body or two, and we'll have a mob situation on our hands."

"I know, but... is there anything we can do about it? They're angry and afraid, Ren, and understandably so. People keep disappearing and dying. I can't blame them for wanting something done about it, but there are people who handle that sort of thing."

"They've been letting the hunters handle it," Sirena said, "but it's still happening. They're angry and afraid, and very soon they'll be taking matters into their own hands. They want blood, and very soon they'll go to take it. And when they do..."

"They'll die. A lot of them will, at least. A mob going after youkai will just get more people killed. But... what can we do about it? There's no talking them down, Ren, not when people keep disappearing and being killed. I don't like it any more than you do, but we can't stop it."

"They'll be getting themselves killed. And it won't stop there. They won't blame themselves; you know that. They'll blame youkai. The situation will only escalate further."

"I know, Ren. I know, and I wish we could do something about it, but... we can't. The only way we could stop it is by finding the specific youkai responsible for all this and having them dealt with, either by the hunters or, if necessary, the Hakurei Maiden. But we have no idea who they are, and I don't see how we could possibly identify them in time. The people certainly aren't going to just listen if we tell them to calm down."

"Agreed. But... I don't want to just let this happen."

"Neither do I, Ren. Neither do I."

* * *

"...said one last thing before she left. She said, 'When you realize the truth, ask yourself this: is the safety it provides worth the cost?'"

Sanae was quiet for a while, then, "...Huh. Well, some of that I would expect, but the rest..."

"Tell me, then," Liri said, "what of it was as expected?"

"The part about breaking a cycle, for one. In the stories, the evil's emergence is often part of some manner of cycle, and in such cases, the stories almost universally involve finding a way to put an end to that cycle, usually by destroying the evil permanently. Luna being somewhat cryptic is in line with the stories, too.; often the main characters only get cryptic replies from such people, at least at first. And how Luna described her role in the story, that's exactly what I would have expected it to be. But the rest... well, whatever she did to the resonance point I'd say is likely related to defeating the evil and breaking the cycle, but lying about her past involvement? What she said about the cycle drawing your message out so that she could find and trigger it? The part about the seals not having been made by anyone? I don't understand any of that. And she spoke as though the story and the act of breaking the cycle are opposed, which doesn't make sense. Breaking the cycle would be a part of the story."

"Luna didn't seem to agree."

"Yes, but... why? What does she know that we don't?"

"I'll let you know if I figure it out," Liri said. "And I suppose my chances of doing so are better the more I know, so has there been anything new on your end?"

"Well," Sanae said, "we got a report from the Underground Nuclear Plant yesterday."

"The nuclear plant? How is that involved in all of this?"

"There was an... incident a couple days ago. A couple kappa went down there to grab some parts they needed, but on the way back they were attacked by Twisted. It was a small group, and one of the kappa – Liora – fought them while the other took the parts. Liora should've been able to win, but then a lot more showed up, more than she could handle, and coming in such that she couldn't evade them. So she reversed course, intending to get help from the plant, and... that should've worked. It should've worked, but things kept going wrong. In particular, the plant's response of sending Utsuho out took far longer than it should have. They investigated this, and reported yesterday that there was evidence of a temporal anomaly. Apparently Utsuho took so long because time in the reactor was moving more slowly, and the second group of twisted caught up sooner than expected because time was moving faster for them. And... the report said this wasn't a naturally-occurring anomaly. It said the anomaly was _caused_. Someone or something _made_ it happen. Someone or something _wanted_ Liora to die."

"...Any idea what? Or why this 'something' would want her dead?"

"I'm... not sure, actually," Sanae said. "To be honest, it wasn't her death that surprised me, but the _circumstances_ of her death. She had a former student, Takeri. Liora was Takeri's mentor, and in the stories the mentor almost always dies. But she dies in the presence of the student, sacrifices herself to protect the student. And she _chooses_ to make that sacrifice. She _knows_ she's giving her life to save her student's. That's how the story goes. But none of that happened here. Liora was nowhere near Takeri, Takeri was never in danger, and Liora expected to win the fight. And yet she didn't. Things kept happening, the situation kept getting worse for her, until, finally, she died."

"I see."

Sanae sat down on a nearby rock. "It's just... I thought we were ready. I thought I knew what to expect, but... things keep being different, and someone died because of it. I've been preparing for this for a while now, ever since the 'wicked moon' incident a year ago. That's when I realized this was coming."

"The wicked moon. That moon with a face that seemed on course to collide with Gensokyo."

"Well, it was actually a comet, and it turned out to be an illusion anyways, but yes. There's a story from the outside world where such a thing happened. Although I don't remember the details of that story; it's been more than fifty years since I came to Gensokyo, after all. But that's when I realized stories from the outside could happen here. Sure, the incident wasn't exactly like the story, but that was just the influence of one single story. This, what we're dealing with now, there were a huge number of such stories, and they all played out pretty much the same way. But this... it's almost like that story is being shoved into a space in which it doesn't quite fit. I can see what part of the story things such as Liora's death are _supposed_ to be, but they aren't, not quite."

"But overall, events have proceeded more or less like those in the stories?"

"They have, yes."

"What comes next, then? What's next in the stories?"

"We'll have to fight," Sanae said. "Everyone, together. Right now Gensokyo is divided, relations between humans and youkai the worst they've been since the spellcard rules were implemented. I'll need to find some way to unite them against our common enemy. Then we'll be ready for the battle to come."

"I see. I don't think I can be of much help there, though."

"That's okay. I'll work on figuring that out. You keep looking into the seals. Look into Luna as well, see if you can't figure out what she knows."

"I already intend to do just that."

"Glad to hear it. If you learn anything, let me know. Good luck."

"And good luck to you as well," Liri said.

* * *

"Camera pods online and connected. Projectors are ready." Takeri turned to Nitori. "Everything's green on my end."

"Same here," Nitori said. "Power output is steady. Proceeding with test."

The setup was the same as previous tests. The only problem had been the generator; everything else seemed to work as intended. And now that the generator had been improved using spare parts from the Underground Nuclear Plant, it should have no difficulty handling the load, not from the current small-scale test or from the full-scale system.

As with prior tests, the controls and displays were at a safe distance, just in case anything went wrong. Nitori's equipment was linked to the generator and processor, while Takeri's controlled the cameras and projectors. "Bringing camera pods online," Takeri said. "Pods active and recording."

"Feed processing is good," Nitori said. "Extrapolation active. Ready for projection."

"Projectors are receiving. Activating in three... two... one... now." Takeri activated the projectors, and as with the last test, the projector ring and everything within it seemed to shimmer and distort before vanishing completely. But this time it stayed that way.

"Everything's running well within tolerances," Nitori said. "The upgraded generator is handling the load perfectly, and should have no problems even at full scale. Just have to test adaptability, then we're done."

"Right." Takeri made her way over to where an arrow had been drawn in the dirt. She couldn't see any part of the optical-camouflage system, but the arrow marked a spot where she could enter its field of effect without running into anything. She did exactly that, then walked around within the field for a bit before exiting and returning to Nitori.

"No fluctuation," Nitori said. "Projection-feed integrity was maintained without issue."

"That's good. Of course, there'll be a lot more activity to compensate for at full scale."

"Enka's extrapolation system's been tested already. This was just to make sure there wasn't any lag, and there wasn't. No matter what's happening within the field, the projection shouldn't be disrupted even momentarily. All right, system going offline... done." Nitori took a step back, then turned to Takeri. "Looks like it works. You have the projectors we'll need for a full-scale version?"

Takeri nodded. "I can start setting them up immediately."

"Excellent. I'll set up the power relays, then. How long will you need?"

"Well, I'll need to properly secure both the projectors and the cameras so they won't be knocked out of alignment if they get stepped on or something, so I'd say a couple hours. Then we'll need to connect the relays to the rings, of course, and position the supplemental camera pods throughout the village. Allow another hour or two for that, I think. So I'd say we'll be ready to go this afternoon."

"Good," Nitori said. "And Takeri? Thanks for doing this. I know it can't be easy working with me, not after I got Liora killed, so... thank you."

Takeri just sighed. _You really can't comprehend the idea that it had nothing to do with you, can you?_ "Sure."

"Right, then," Nitori said. "Let's get to work."

* * *

Liri returned to the forest to find Alraune waiting for her. "Alraune."

"Hey," Alraune said. "Thought you'd show up if I just waited a bit."

"I hope you weren't waiting long."

"Not really. Just got back from the Garden of the Sun. Found the seal, and I spoke to Yuuka as well."

Liri chuckled a bit. "I don't think I know anyone else who would speak of meeting her so casually."

"Well," Alraune said, "you certainly don't want to damage her flowers, but other than that, the rumors about her are a bit exaggerated. I mean, yeah, she has her good days and her bad, but in general she's not going to attack unprovoked. Besides, even if I do catch her on a bad day and she lashes out at me, I can take her. Had to, a couple times."

Another chuckle from Liri. "I certainly don't know anyone else who would speak so casually of _fighting_ Yuuka. Or for that matter, anyone who could face her in a real fight and live to tell about it."

"We're actually pretty evenly matched; she has a bit of an edge in raw power, but my greater versatility balances it out. A fight with her in her right mind could go either way. If she's _not_ in her right mind, though, well, she doesn't really have much of a chance against me when she's not thinking straight. So no, I'm not worried about what might happen to me in the Garden. Yuuka's even sort of a friend, really. So when I came looking for the seal, she was more than willing to help. I came here once I was done there."

"I see. I hope you weren't waiting long, but I had a need to speak to Sanae. I... found some new information, things I knew she'd want to know."

"Huh. Too bad I didn't get here earlier, then; she'll probably want to hear what I found out as well. Yuuka had some... interesting things to tell me. Turns out the Garden seal had been visited twice before I came looking for it. The first visitor's probably the one who broke the seal, but the second... well, that's where it got interesting. I was told her name is Luna, and she's not actually interested in the seals, but rather the resonance points they're located at. Apparently she's made use of them before, as part of some method to be reborn while still herself. This time she's using the resonance points for a different purpose, but Yuuka didn't know any more than that. Apparently Luna was fairly cryptic."

"I see," Liri said. "Well, as it happens, I actually met Luna, and she was most certainly cryptic. At first she said she was involved with the creation of the seals and wanted to strengthen the one at the lake, the only one left that's still unbroken. That's why she came to me, to get me to let her through my barrier. But once we were at the seal, well, I don't know what she did, but it wasn't to the seal. And when I confronted her, she... said a lot of things that didn't make much sense."

"Like what?"

"Well..."

* * *

"Okay," Sanae said, "ready?"

"I am," Mystia said, holding her gohei at the ready.

Sanae and Mystia were in the shrine's courtyard, where Mystia was about to begin learning to channel Kanako's power. Normally, a shrine maiden-in-training wouldn't learn to channel the god's power until the end of the training. Channeling the power of the shrine's god was considered sort of a final step, a sign that the god accepted the new maiden. But this situation wasn't normal. The Twisted were a serious threat, and one could find oneself fighting for her life at any time. And in addition, it was in exchange for power that Mystia had agreed to serve.

"All right," Sanae said. "First, focus on the snake emblem. That ornament is your connection with Lady Kanako. It is your link to her, and hers to you."

"Okay." Mystia focused on the emblem, but... "I... don't feel anything."

"It may take a bit. Just keep trying."

"All right." Mystia continued to concentrate on the emblem, and then, eventually, "Ah!"

"You got it?"

"I think so," Mystia said, "but then I lost it."

"That's normal when you're first starting. Just find it again."

"Okay." And she did, though she then lost it again. But she kept trying, and eventually she managed to hold onto the sensation. "I think I have it!"

"Very good," Sanae said. "All right, now, you need to pull on that connection in order to draw power from it. Don't worry about controlling it yet; just channel it into the gohei. A gohei is an instrument for the channeling and control of spiritual and divine energy; eventually, you'll be able to channel Kanako's – and Suwako's – power without it, but it makes things easier, especially for beginners."

Mystia did as instructed, or rather tried to. "I... don't think anything's happening."

"That's normal. It'll probably take you a while, especially since we're doing this so early in your training as a maiden of the Moriya Shrine."

"That matters?"

Sanae nodded. "It's all about faith. It is through your devotion to your gods that you can channel their power, and you do not have that devotion."

"Hey, I'm-"

"You're not," Sanae said. "What you are is _willing_. True devotion to one's gods comes only with time and through service. Over time, your willingness to serve them will develop into such devotion." Which was the other reason channeling usually came near the end of a shrine maiden's training.

"And if it doesn't?"

"That," Sanae said, "will only happen if your willingness to serve them fades, in which case you are not suited for the role of their maiden. But I doubt that will happen. Lady Kanako would not have given you this role if she did not believe you suited for it."

"...I see."

"Just do your duty as the Moriya maiden, Mystia. The rest will come in time. Now, how about you give this another try?"

* * *

"Well," Alraune said, "you were right; that didn't make much sense."

"Indeed," Liri said, "and yet she thought it important for me to know."

"She said you 'have all the pieces', but I have to admit I have no idea how they all fit together."

"Nor do I," Liri said, "but Luna seemed to think I could fit them together. She certainly seemed to _want_ me to, though why she wouldn't then just tell me I don't know."

"Yeah, it's a mystery. So what's next, then? You want to check out the last two seal locations?"

"I certainly don't have any better ideas. Don't know that I'll do it today, though. I've sort of been neglecting my efforts with integration magic in favor of all this, so I'd like to catch up a bit on that. I'll check the other two seals tomorrow."

"All right," Alraune said. "Want me to come, too?"

"At this point it seems unlikely we'll run into any guardians or anything, but yeah, probably a good idea just in case. May ask Akora again, too. "

"Sounds good," Alraune said. "See you tomorrow, then."

"See you tomorrow," Liri said.

* * *

"Positive connections from all pods," Takeri said. "Projectors are green. No signal delay. Everything's green on my end."

"Extrapolation active," Nitori said. "No problems. Routing feed."

"Feed received. Ready for projection."

"Excellent. Activating in three.. two... one!"

This time, the two of them were in Nitori's workshop, Nitori having converted one corner of it into a control center of sorts. They'd returned there after setting up their equipment around the village, and now Nitori turned everything on.

In addition to the equipment needed for the camouflage system, Takeri had placed additional camera pods outside the village through which she could observe the test, and she now turned her attention to their feed. Though it took longer, the system's activation looked just like it had in the small-scale test. But this time, it was an entire village that appeared to vanish.

"Generator holding," Nitori said. "Stress levels well within tolerances."

"Adaptability looks good," Takeri said. "Feed integrity is stable. Minimal fluctuation."

"Excellent," Nitori said.

They left the system running for ten minutes, and no problems occurred. "We did it," Nitori said as she powered the system down. "Test successful."

"Glad to hear it," Takeri said. _Especially since it means I'm just about done working with you._ "You don't need me for the rest, right?"

"That's right. All that's left is to organize the data and compile the report to the shrine, and you won't be of much help there. Probably take the rest of the day, so I'll report my success to the shrine in the morning."

"...Right. Let me know what they say."

"Certainly," Nitori said as Takeri made to exit the workshop. "And... again, Takeri, I'm sorry about Liora. I realize that can't make up for getting her killed, but-"

 _Oh, for fuck's sake._ "Maybe try pulling your head out of your ass. Might help." Then Takeri exited the workshop, slamming the door shut behind her.

 _Seriously, woman,_ Takeri thought as she made her way back to her own workshop, _how the_ hell _are you this delusional?_

* * *

The next morning, Kiro awoke to the sound of some manner of ruckus outside. After dressing himself, he made his way to the kitchen area to find his wife. "What's going on out there?"

"Don't know," Harui said. "Haven't been outside."

"I'll take a look, then."

Kiro moved for the door, but before he got there, it burst open and a clearly-distressed Sirena came running in. "Kiro, we have a problem!"

"What is it? What's going on?"

"Kid was taken last night. Parents woke up and saw he was missing, and... they found a foot just outside the village."

"...Oh." There was no question what had happened, of course. Youkai often broke the legs of their abduction victims or removed one or both feet. Such things made it very hard for anyone who couldn't fly to escape, and the victim's long-term survival was irrelevant to a youkai intending to eat said victim.

"Yeah. And it seems this abduction was one too many. The entire village is in an uproar, and there's not going to be any talking them down. We're in torches and pitchforks territory here. They want blood, and they intend to go get it."

"...Shit."

"Yeah," Sirena said. "We're talking about a riot here, and that won't end well for anyone."

"No, but... what can we do?"

"I think I have a plan," Sirena said. "Come on; we have to get to the square before the mob really gets going. I'll explain on the way."

"All right," Kiro said. "Harui, stay inside. I don't want you-" He cut off as he noticed Harui was gone. "Shit. She went out to join the mob."

"Then we'll probably see her at the square," Sirena said, "but we have to get there quickly. Come on!"

"Right," Kiro said. He followed Sirena out of the house, the two of them making their way to the town square as quickly as they could.

* * *

 **Alright, so some things happened here. Liri got some cryptic clues from Luna, Takeri and Nitori got their device working, and things are not going well in the village. Also the narrator's still having issues. And by the way, yes, not everything the narrator says is necessarily completely accurate. Also, though there are indeed some mistakes in the narration, those are supposed to be there. The narrator made those mistakes, not me.**

 **We also saw Yuuka in this chapter. I'm not fond of Yuuka's typical portrayal, so I went with something a little different. It's common to see her abducting people and engaging in extreme sexual activities, potentially up to sexual torture. The thing is, nobody ever seems to talk about why she would be that way. But if you realize that flowers are basically reproductive organs, then Yuuka as a flower youkai is basically a youkai of reproduction. And it's easy to get from there to having rather... extreme preferences.**

 **Anyways, given everything that's happened so far, I'm sure you have some thoughts, so please don't hesitate to share them, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	10. Chapter 9: The Siren's Call

**Chapter 9  
** _The Siren's Call_

"You seem distracted," Alraune said as she and Liri exited the cave and rejoined Akora. They'd headed out fairly promptly, and had just finished examining the second of the two remaining seal locations. Akora was with them, but as she had at Greentree, she'd elected to wait outside unless needed.

"Of course I'm distracted," Liri said. "I've... had a lot to think about lately, and even more so after yesterday."

"Given what you told me about your interactions with Luna, yeah, I can understand that."

"It's just... none of this makes sense. The shapeless seals, the Twisted, the conjured guardians, all of these things are impossible, and yet they're happening. And then there's Luna and everything she said, and everything Sanae's run into, and... there's just so much, and I can't even begin to see how it all fits together. Luna said I 'have all the pieces', but... I don't know. The more I think about it, try to puzzle it out, the more complicated it seems. I just... I feel like I'm missing something. Luna says I have all the pieces, but I feel like I'm missing at least one. And the most important one, too."

"Well, I don't know if I can help with that, but if I can, let me know."

"I'll do that."

"All right, then. Well, anyways, see you later."

"Indeed."

As Alraune flew away, Akora came up next to Liri. "You have indeed been distracted by all of this; she's right about that."

"I don't know if I'd say 'distracted'. Occupied, certainly. I found something supposedly impossible, and I want to understand it."

"That's not what's distracting you. That's what you're being distracted from. It's the rest of it that is the distraction. Sanae's 'stories', the Twisted, this 'Luna''s riddles, those are the distractions."

"It's all connected, though. The seals, the Twisted, all of it."

"That may be, but you shouldn't try to figure out every piece at once. Take a step back. If you look too closely, you'll miss things. A hunter doesn't examine every inch of the field, after all; she just watches the field as a whole."

"'Missing the forest for the trees', as they say. Yeah, I guess you have a point. Anyways, we're done here, so let's head back."

"Indeed," Akora said.

* * *

"This," Kiro said softly, "is a bad idea."

"I know," Sirena said just as softly. "I know, but we don't have any good options here, so we'll have to settle with the least bad one."

At this point, a riot was unavoidable. The latest attack had pushed too many of the villagers too far, and they wanted retribution. There was no talking them down, so Kiro and Sirena hadn't even bothered to try. Instead, Kiro, at Sirena's suggestion, had taken charge of the mob, at least as much as one could. The idea was to direct the mob towards a target that was hostile towards humans but at the same time not strong enough to inflict many casualties on the mob. To find them youkai they could kill.

"We should head for the forest," Sirena said. "Not all the way into the actual Forest of Magic itself, of course, but plenty of weaker youkai live in the outer forest. The hunters've tracked a couple hostile youkai to an area in the west side of the forest. They're weak enough that our mob here should be able to handle them without significant casualties, and I doubt we'll run into any stronger ones on the way; the stronger forest youkai tend to prefer the Forest of Magic proper. So we should be fine."

"Until the next dead villager. This won't really help, Sirena. As soon as people keep dying or disappearing, it'll happen again. And again. And each time they'll be harder to satisfy."

Kiro and Sirena were at the head of the mob as it left the village. Following Sirena's direction, Kiro made for the eastern region of the forest, leading a mob that, unfortunately, did indeed include his wife. He'd tried to persuade Harui to stay in the village, but she wouldn't have any of it.

"I'll admit we're only buying a little time," Sirena said, "but we may only need a little. The hunters are on this, Kiro. They'll find any youkai involved in this recent string of killings, probably sooner rather than later. We just need to keep the people alive until they do."

"Yeah," Kiro said. "I just hope we can. I truly hope this plan of yours works, Sirena. For everyone's sake."

* * *

"Well," Kanako said as Sanae reentered the shrine after Nitori left, "that's certainly good news."

Yeah," Sanae said. "If the new optical-camouflage system is operational, we can hide towns and villages. Not many, though. They don't have enough equipment for more than a few, and it'll take a while to make more. Longer than we seem to have. I thought we'd have more time – these stories usually unfold over weeks, if not months – but it doesn't look like we will. The Twisted are growing more numerous by the day, and only one seal remains unbroken. I thought we'd have weeks at least, but... apparently not."

"Isn't most of that time spent on travel, though?" Kanako said. "Getting from one seal to the next? The seals are usually scattered throughout the world, but here they're all in Gensokyo."

"And we fly, too," Sanae said, "while in the stories they mostly travel on foot or by ship. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. It doesn't take nearly as long to travel from one seal to the next, so everything else is accelerating to match." Then, "Wait, but... accelerating how?"

"I'm... a little confused," Mystia said. "What is this about stories?"

"The short version," Sanae said, "is that the way events have been progressing recently bares a striking resemblance to a common type of story from the outside world. I actually was expecting such a thing – this is the land of fantasy, after all – but... things haven't gone quite as expected. The story is still there, still recognizable, but there've been... deviations. Inconsistencies. Kind of like someone's trying to tell such a story but doesn't quite have everything right."

"Takeri thinks there _is_ 'someone' responsible, right?" Kanako said. Then, to Mystia, "Takeri's a kappa; she's been helping Nitori with the camouflage system."

"She did say something like that. After encountering a deviation, actually. She seems to think someone _is_ in fact trying to play out the story. And... I guess I can't dismiss the idea entirely. As I said, it does kind of feel like someone's trying to tell the story but doesn't quite have all the details right. But... I don't see how anyone _could_. There's a lot about this that isn't supposed to be possible. Too much to ascribe to any one individual. Even allowing for some unknown ability, and also allowing for said ability to have rather broad potential, I don't see any way a single person could be responsible for _everything_ that's been happening."

"Perhaps it's multiple people, then," Kanako

"That would mean multiple people with unknown abilities, multiple people who can do things that are supposed to be impossible, and that seems even less likely."

"So basically," Mystia said, "you think these things are happening because of some story?"

"No, that's not-" _Wait. Could... no, that couldn't be it. Could it?_ "Um..." _I've known the story is happening, but... it can't be the_ cause _, right?_ But then again, why not? It was unbelievable, but... _This is the land of the unbelievable._ "I'm... not sure," Sanae said, "but... you may be more right than you know."

* * *

As Liri and Akora were headed in the same direction, they flew back towards the forest together. But it was a quiet flight, as Liri was bust thinking.

Akora was right; Liri was trying to figure out too much at once. _I have to step back, try and simplify things. See if I can figure out what I'm overlooking._ Because she _was_ overlooking something; she was certain of that. It was like that puzzle at the first seal, really; she was looking too hard and something when the answer could well be right in front of her. _Too bad I don't have Tilea here to help me this time. Not that she'd understand any of this, anyways._

All right, then. Back to basics. _What do I_ know _?_ Well, she knew... not much, really. She knew there were seals, at least five of them (Luna had said five, but Liri didn't actually know for certain if this was true), and that all but one of those had been broken. She knew that the seal runes were a mess of random designs, that they shouldn't work at all. And, really, that was it.

On, then, to Sanae's information, as although Sanae was no doubt a reliable source, Liri couldn't personally verify what she'd had to say, so it ranked just a tiny bit lower. Not that much about what she'd said was definitely known even by her. It was no doubt true that events had played out similarly to outside-world stories, and there was also no doubt that she'd accurately described events such as her encounter with Mephilia (or, rather, the Twisted Mephilia had taken direct control of) and subsequent meeting with Toyosatomimi no Miko, but everything else was conjecture even on Sanae's part. Even the one thing Sanae was most certain of, that these things were happening _because_ of-

Liri came to a halt just as she and Akora were beginning to pass over the outer forest. She lowered herself to the ground, found a large enough rock, and sat down. _No. That... can't possibly be true, can it?_ But then, why _couldn't_ it? It seemed impossible, but Liri couldn't think of a single reason it actually _would_ be.

Akora came down beside Liri. "Is something wrong?"

"I... thought of something." Something crazy, though. But, really, was it? After all, objects and people passed into Gensokyo all the time, so why couldn't... "I think I... might have figured it out." It was obvious, really, now that she thought of it. So obvious she'd missed it completely. And yet, at the same time, not obvious at all. Because it certainly _sounded_ insane. Impossible. But Liri still couldn't think of any reason it actually _would_ be impossible. "Akora, this is going to sound crazy, but... well, you know how Sanae says these things are happening like in outside-world stories? I don't think this is just event playing out like one. I... I think maybe the story is _causing_ all of this."

* * *

"Causing this," Mystia said. "Well, you're right; that sounds crazy. And I've heard plenty of crazy things over the years." Which she had; hanging out with Cirno could have that effect.

"Is it, though?" Sanae said. "Crazy? I hadn't thought about it like this before, but wouldn't it just be a case of something passing from the outside world into Gensokyo? People pass through, objects pass through, so... is there any reason to think _ideas_ don't pass through?"

"Hmm... now that you mention it," Kanako said, "no, I can't think of any reason they couldn't. In fact, one could say we already know they _do_. After all, this is the land of fantasy, and at its core, fantasy – fiction of any kind, really – is simply an idea."

"Hold on," Mystia said. "You don't actually think she's right, do you?"

* * *

"I... actually, I do," Liri said. "I think I do. The more I think about it, the better it fits. It's the only thing I can think of that doesn't _not_ fit. Think of all the things we've run into that aren't possible. The seal runes, the conjured guardian, the Twisted themselves. Those things aren't possible."

"We've seen them ourselves," Akora said, "so clearly they are possible."

"No, Akora. They're not. I mean, those seal runes are just random symbols. Meaningless. There's no way they can possible have any effect."

"But they do."

"Yes. Because something – the story – is _making_ them have their effect."

* * *

"That doesn't even make sense," Mystia said. "How could a story do, well, anything? It's not possible."

"That was my thought, too," Sanae said, "but... can you think of any actual _reason_ it's not possible? Anything that indicates it for sure couldn't happen?"

"Because a story isn't _real_. It doesn't exist, not physically. As you said, it's just an idea. We can do things _with_ ideas, but ideas themselves can't do things."

"You're sure of that?" Kanako said. "You're certain an idea can't take action? An idea like, say, the concept of boundaries?"

"Of course it- ...oh."

"Exactly. Personally, I'm not ready to dismiss the idea. Like Sanae, I can't think of any actual reason it would be impossible."

* * *

"What of the inconsistencies, though?" Akora said. "You told me events aren't quite playing out how Sanae expected."

"True," Liri said, "but... what if this is _why_ there are inconsistencies?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it," Sanae said. "When you're writing a story, you're thinking up all the characters in it, and in fantasy stories you're generally thinking up all the locations, too, and the world the story's set in and how that world works. You can give the story everything it needs. But that hasn't happened here, because Gensokyo already existed before the story came here. It's clearly capable of a fair amount, but at some level it has to work with what's already here."

* * *

"I still say this sounds crazy," Mystia said.

"Of course it does. It _is_ crazy. But that doesn't mean it's not the truth. And it explains everything. All the mysteries, all the impossibilities. It's even the answer to how Mephilia got sealed. She's not sealed because of some incident a thousand years ago; she's sealed because that's how the story goes."

"You yourself pointed out that these stories didn't exist that long ago, though," Kanako said.

* * *

"That's true," Liri said. "Hmm... perhaps the story co-opted something that was already sealed away. Or perhaps the story is the only reason Mephilia exists at all. An idea can become a person, so why couldn't one cause the existence of a person?"

"You believe this 'story' created Mephilia?"

"Maybe not 'created' so much as 'caused to exist'. I'm not sure how much actual volition we should attribute to it. It doesn't necessarily have awareness, have true thought. In fact..."

* * *

"...that makes sense," Sanae said. "It would be another thing that helps explain the inconsistencies. Like with Liora. It saw someone interacting with a former apprentice, and then that same person engaged the enemy while someone else escaped. What if that triggered the story to push the sacrifice plot point onto her without realizing that things didn't quite fit? Because maybe it _couldn't_ realize this. Things got close enough to trigger it. And then when Liora kept finding ways to survive, the story kept pushing her towards death, eventually to the point of a temporal anomaly that prevented her from receiving aid in time."

"Just because this 'story' thought she was supposed to die?" Mystia shuddered a bit. "I'm not saying I agree with you or anything, but... that sounds terrifying. What if it thinks one of us is supposed to die? How could we..."

"That's the thing, Mystia; it _doesn't_ think. Not in the same way we do, at least. It pushed Liora's death because it falsely recognized a plot point. And, clearly, it can do a lot to push itself onto us."

* * *

"But it _only_ pushes its storyline," Liri said. "It's limited to that. Outside of that, it doesn't do anything. Doesn't try to make us act, doesn't try to prevent us from acting, nothing. That's the limit. It can't do anything outside of its storyline, because it doesn't have the mental capacity to reach beyond it. It can't do anything if we're acting outside of it. Not even... maybe not even if we act against it."

"Against it? What do you mean?"

"Luna's opposing it. Opposing the story. She wants to stop it, and I think she knows how to."

"And you mean to help her?"

"I... don't know," Liri said. "She told me that, if I figured all this out, I should ask myself if 'the safety it provides is worth the cost', and... I don't know what she meant. I mean, I think I get the 'cost' part; that's the people who die as part of the story."

* * *

"Like... Wriggle," Mystia said.

"Wriggle? That firefly friend of yours?"

Mystia nodded. "She... died. Was killed by the Twisted."

"...Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. But yes, like her. And Liora. And everyone else who's died because of the Twisted, or the rising human-youkai hostility, or any other part of the story. That's the cost, it has to be. But... safety? I don't have any idea what that means."

"Let's think, then," Kaanako said. "Run through the story, see if we can figure out what it means."

"Right." Sanae ran through the basic plot in her head. The sealed evil, someone or something breaking the seals, fractured people having to unite to face the coming threat, the seals breaking no matter what happened, a final battle between the forces of good and evil, the heroes fighting the sealed evil, and then...

* * *

"We win," Liri said.

"I don't understand."

"We win. The story ends with the protagonists victorious and the evil defeated. That's the safety."

"That we survive?"

* * *

"Yes," Sanae said, "and it's not just this story. Think of... well, any number of incidents in Gensokyo's past. Think about how badly the 'Subterranean Animism' incident could have ended. Or how close that Seija woman came to her 'revolution'. Or the Lunarians attacking Gensokyo. Or what about that endless winter incident not too long before we came to Gensokyo? If that lasted any longer than it did, the results could've been disastrous."

"Wait," Mystia said, "those are caused by stories, too?"

"I don't know. I don't know, but it's possible. And in general, stories have happy endings. The main character succeed in whatever they're attempting to do. There are exceptions, but if we're really being influenced by stories, the minority with darker conclusions would most likely be drowned out. So Gensokyo always survives, no matter what dangers it faces."

"I... still don't think I believe all this, but say it's true. The stories aren't really keeping our world safe, then, because they're causing the danger in the first place."

"There would still be incidents," Kanako said. "Take it from someone who's caused her fair share. I don't know what influence any story may have had over me, but I know myself. Even without influence, there's a fair chance I'll be responsible for more in the future, and I'm hardly the only one in Gensokyo likely to cause an incident."

"She's right," Sanae said. "There's still be danger without the stories' influence. But... maybe not as much. And certainly nothing like this. No ancient, evil beings that shouldn't exist in the first place. That's why..."

* * *

"That's why Luna wants to end the cycle of stories," Liri said. "That's what she meant. The stories may ensure Gensokyo survives, but they're also responsible for a lot of suffering and tragedy that otherwise wouldn't happen. That's what Luna meant when she asked me if the safety was worth the price."

"She believes it's not," Akora said.

"Clearly. The question is what she thinks she can do about it?"

* * *

Sanae was silent for a bit. The possible implications of all this were... profound, really. But then she pushed those thoughts aside. They could wait until later. "I'm going to the village."

"You have a plan?" Kanako said.

"Not as such. But if the story plays out as I'd expect, human-youkai tensions are about to come to a head, and I want to be there when it does. We'll have to unite against Mephilia, and whatever's about to happen down there will be our best chance to accomplish this. Mystia, while I'm gone, practice channeling. I'll try to leave you out of the fight, but I can't guarantee you won't have to defend yourself, so you need to be able to."

"All right," Mystia said. "Um... good luck, Sanae."

"Thanks," Sanae said.

* * *

 _There it is. The truth, or at least most of it. Not that you understand it. I doubt you even believe it. But it's true. Sanae realized it, and so did Liri. And soon I would learn it from Liri. But none of us understood what it really meant. Liri, to my knowledge, still doesn't. I'm not sure Sanae does, either; we... don't really discuss it. But I do. I didn't then, but I do now._

 _I told you fate had its hold on all of us. Now you know what form it takes. Because that's all this is. Fate directing our actions in the form of a story._

* * *

Liri just sat there for a while; the realizations she'd come to carried some rather... profound implications. The concepts of fate and free will had an intrinsic opposition to each other, and now there was very real evidence that fate did indeed exist in some form or another. The story was, after all, direction people's actions down a predetermined path, and what was such a thing if not fate? But there was free will, too. There were limits to the story's influence, only a certain degree to witch it could affect events. What those limitation were was unknown, perhaps unknowable, but it was pretty clear they did exist. So the question, then, was to what extent fate held influence.

Luna had told Liri to come to her if she realized the truth, and though Liri didn't know what Luna had planned, she already knew she'd be going to meet with Luna. But perhaps first a visit to the Scarlet Devil Mansion was warranted. After all, where better to go if one wished to learn about fate? If nothing else, Patchouli almost certainly had a high level of knowledge on the topic, and that alone would be worth a visit. And if Liri was lucky, she might have a chance to speak to Remilia Scarlet herself. The exact nature of Remilia's ability was unclear, but the vampire certainly had some manner of connection to fate. No one else in Gesokyo had a greater understanding of the subject.

"You seem... occupied," Akaora said eventually.

"It's a lot to think about," Liri said. "The idea of fate probably isn't something you've ever thought about, but... well, the question of if fate exists, of fate versus free will, is one of significance, and all this carries some pretty major implications. And... well, ordinarily I'd be thinking about this over a long period of time, but I don't _have_ a lot of time to digest those implications."

"Because this 'story' is nearing its climax?"

"No," Liri said. "Because of Luna. She means to stop this cycle of stories, to stand against fate, and she seems to have a way to. She told me to decide 'if the safety it provides is worth the cost', and clearly her own answer is 'no'. But... I don't know what my answer is. Sure, fate is responsible for the deaths that occur during these stories, but it also guarantees the survival of Gensokyo as a whole. What if we lose that protection? Will the next incident be a disaster for Gensokyo? Will it be resolved, but not until more people die than would have from the story? I mean... it's easy to say we should stand against fate, should decide our own futures, but... what if it ends badly? Is it better to allow some to die in order to guarantee the rest of us survive?"

"Some will always die so that others survive," Akora said. "That is natural."

"Yeah, but I'm not talking about killing for food or anything like that. I'm talking about people dying just because some... _thing_ decided they would. It's not the natural kind of death, Akora; it's a sacrifice. Letting them die just because it's part of some story. But then people do die all the time. From predation, from conflict with other people, from disease. Does it really matter whether or not fate ordains those deaths? They still happen. And maybe fewer will with fate than without it. It's... a lot to think about, and I don't have a lot of time to. I don't know when Luna's going to act, but I doubt it'll be too long before she does, and I have to make my decision before then, or else it's meaningless. And I just don't know-"

"Hold," Akora said. "I hear something."

Liri listened carefully. "Yes, I do, too. I think it's close."

"It's coming from behind us."

The two of them turned around to find the unexpected sight of a sizable group of humans making their way through the outer forest. And not a calm group; these people were clearly angry. Enraged, really. _But how..._

Akora clearly had the same thought. "How did they get so close without me hearing them?"

"I don't... I'm not sure." _Wait, unless..._ "Damn. This is part of the story, too. Tensions between humans and youkai are coming to a head."

"You believe this 'story' of yours is the reason we're here? That it wants us to encounter these people?"

"I doubt it. We're only here because I stopped when I realized the truth. The story's not responsible for that. It wants an encounter between humans and youkai, and hid their approach to prevent said youkai from fleeing before they arrived, but it didn't put us here specifically; we just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

By now, the group had closed in, forming into a semicircle around Liri and Akora. "I must say, this is unexpected," Liri said as she stood up. "Do you have business with us?"

The question was met with hostile cries from the humans. _Not good,_ Liri thought. Although she wasn't worried about her own safety. This was a fairly sizable group, sure, but they were just humans, and though there were exceptions, humans as a rule were generally fairly weak. Even the hunters relied more on preparation and cunning than actual combat ability. And though all of these humans were armed, their weapons were mostly farming tools, pitchforks and the like. Depending on what abilities any of them had, Liri might have had a little difficulty on her own just on account of their numbers, but with Akora there as well they wouldn't have a chance.

Liri didn't think she'd be able to get out of this without a fight, but she tried anyways. "You seem... upset. Have I wronged you in some way?"

More hostile shouts. "You're wasting your time, Liri," Akora said. "These people are quite clearly hostile."

"They're angry, yes, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to be reasonable."

" _Reasonable_?" one of the humans cried out. "You come into our village, you take us – take our _children_ – and you want to be _reasonable_?"

This was it, then. Tensions had reached a breaking point, and the humans were out for blood. Still... "My companion and I have done no such thing," Liri said. "If you can tell us anything about the ones responsible we may be able to direct you towards them, but we are not them."

"Bullshit!" another human said. "Don't think you can lie your way out of this one, youkai! Your kind feeds on us! You all do!"

As expected, they weren't backing down. Still, there was one more thing worth trying. "I'm a magician, actually."

"Your friend there is clearly a youkai. Maybe _you_ don't prey on us, but obviously you help her do it!"

One of the humans stepped out from the group. "As it happens, we are looking for a specific youkai, one that took a child last night."

"I see," Liri said. "Unfortunately, I know nothing of this."

"Of course you'd say that!" another of the humans said. "Don't bother talking to her, Kiro. Let's just deal with these two and move on!"

Before Liri could respond, Akora took a step forward. "Who is your leader?"

"...Excuse me?" the one who'd been called 'Kiro' said.

"Which of you leads this group?"

Kiro hesitated briefly before replying. "Well, I... I do."

Akora looked the man over, and then did something even Liri almost never saw her do: she laughed. "You? Please. You are no alpha. Who is hiding behind you?"

Liri didn't know why Akora was pursuing this line of questioning, but the eagle youkai had good instincts. If she felt something was up, Liri was inclined to trust her. So as Akora pressed Kiro, Liri kept an eye on the rest of the group, looking closely for any indication of who this person might be. A quick glance towards the individual in question, anything that might provide a clue. But though she watched closely, she didn't see anything.

But Akora did. "You," she said, pointing to a woman near Kiro. "You are the true leader of this pack."

Liri didn't know what she expected. But what actually happened was that, after a moment or two of silence, the woman laughed, something that seemed to take many of the humans by surprise. Including Kiro, who turned to look at her as she came forward. "Ren?"

"Oh, very good!" the one called Ren said. "And here I thought I'd hidden myself quite well. You're a sharp one. Oh, well. This isn't quite how I planned it, but it'll do."

"Ren," Kiro said, "what are you talking about?"

A sudden, though fairly weak, blast of energy sent Kiro stumbling backwards as Ren laughed again. "'Ren' is a falsehood." And then... she changed. Her skin became unusually pale, and her hair, previously short and blond in color, was now much longer and a bright white. Her eyes, too, became white. Everything about her was white, with the exception of a black stripe around her head, crossing over her eyes. Even her clothing changed, became mostly while, though accented with some darker colors. She was hardly recognizable; even her build was different, more muscular. And she carried herself much differently, too.

"My name," the woman said, "is Sirena. And I am not human, but youkai."

* * *

 _You didn't even notice, did you? That though I always referred to myself as 'Sirena', the vilagers only ever called me 'Ren'. You didn't notice at all. Even now, even knowing that I was deceiving them, you still didn't notice until I told you. You didn't even know I was referring to myself at all, did you?_

 _I told you that when I first met Liri, we fought. And we did. And that is when I first learned the truth. Although I didn't believe it. Of course I didn't. And even once I did, it was a while before I_ understood _it. I don't think Liri truly understands it even now. What it means that our actions were dictated by a story. And you, of course you don't. You don't even believe it, do you?_

* * *

There was silence from the crowd, but after a couple seconds Kiro spoke. "What... Ren, what are you... what is this?"

"Oh, it's quite simple," Sirena said. "I've been living among you for quite some time now. Pretending to be one of you. And making sure you kept looking outside while the real danger was among you the entire time."

"Then... you..."

"Oh, yes. It's all been my doing. Well, not mine alone. Others have come, have taken villagers, but I'm the one who made it so easy for them to. And I have taken a fair share for myself. Including that child last night. And none of you suspected a thing. Not even you, Kiro." Sirena laughed again. "Oh, you were fun. All the time we spent together. The things we did together. The nights we slept together. All of it, and you has no idea what I really am. No idea it was all a lie."

Another woman spoke now, not to Sirena but to Kiro. "You've been sleeping with a _youkai_?!"

Kiro stammered out a response. "I- I- I didn't... know she was a youkai. I... I thought she was... I thought she..." Then, to Sirena, "It was all a lie? All of it? You pretended to love me, got me to fall in love with you? But... why?"

"Why else? You're a respected figure in the village. I simply used you for your influence. A respected man with no desire or talent for leadership who nonetheless finds himself thrust into such a role. Manipulating you was quite simple. Especially once you developed feelings for me." Sirena then addressed the woman. "It hurts, doesn't it, Harui? Knowing your husband desired another. Knowing he had no love for you. Knowing he saw you as nothing more than a burden. Knowing that he waited eagerly for you to die."

"Shut up, _youkai_!" Harui said. "You know _nothing_ about us! Sure, he doesn't love me, not in the normal way a husband loves a wife, but he still cares about me! And I know he does, because he hasn't left me, not even after you started seducing him!"

Another laugh from Sirena. "Oh, please. He never loved you, never truly cared about you. He only married you out of pity. Pity for the poor, frail, ill girl who's doomed to a short life."

"No!" Kiro said. "That's wrong! Stop... stop this!"

Another laugh from Sirena as she turned to face Kiro. "The truth hurts, doesn't it? But it _is_ true. You never truly cared for-"

From behind Sirena, one of the villagers threw a crude spear at her. It was well-aimed, but Sirena simply reached behind herself and, without even glancing back at it, snatched the spear out of the air before it struck her.

Sirena faced her attacker. "Thought you'd get me with that, didn't you? I'm afraid attacking from behind won't do you any good. I can see all of you, regardless of where you are. Not that a crude weapon like that would do much to me anyways."

Liri took note of this. _So she can see all around herself._ _Certainly an ability with plenty of practical uses._

Akora whispered quietly in Liri's ear. "This is not our fight."

"Then should we leave?" Liri said just as quietly.

"No. To leave now would only draw attention to us and invite pursuit."

Akora may have been ignorant of many things,but when it came to a situation like this one, Liri absolutely trusted the eagle youkai's judgment. Such things were, after all, much more familiar to a hunter than to a magician. "Then what should we do?"

"There will be a fight. We are only moments away from it. Our best chance is to hope the two sides are too occupied with each other to notice our departure. But I will be honest: whatever we do, the odds we can escape without incident are low."

Liri was forced to agree. These humans were out for blood, youkai blood, and though Sirena was the one provoking them, there was no way they'd ignore the other two youkai present. But Akora was right that leaving would only draw attention and pursuit.

Sirena continued. "Now then, Kiro, where were we? Ah, yes, I was exposing your true feelings."

"You were spouting lies!" Harui said.

"Was I, now? Because everything I said is true. And I think you know it, Harui. He never loved you, never cared about you. But then, you never cared about him either, did you? You just needed him to support you, a poor and frail woman who can't care for herself. And he stayed with you only because of this obligation."

"More lies!"

"Oh? And yet he took to me almost immediately. Why do you think he fell for me so quickly? It's because I offered everything his relationship with you lacked. And he needed it so desperately he didn't even notice I was faking all of it."

"Why?" Kiro said. "Why did you do this? Infiltrate the village, get me to- why?"

"To weaken you. To make you vulnerable. And to ensure you did exactly what I wanted. And you have. I'm responsible for the deaths and disappearances that have plagued your village of late. I'm the one who made sure the flames of outrage were properly fanned. And I'm the one who directed your anger such that this moment would be possible. I lured you away from the village, brought you out here where no friends will witness or intervene. You thought you came out here to hunt youkai, but in reality, you were brought here to die. Although maybe I'll leave you alive, Kiro. You've just been _such_ fun, after all."

"You _bitch!_ " The shout came not from Kiro but from Harui, who charged Sirena.

Harui held a pitchfork, which she thrust at Sirena, but the youkai stepped to the side around the strike, grabbed the makeshift weapon and tore it from her hands, and slammed her head-first into the ground with enough force to crack open her skull. A sword then appeared in Sirena's hand as she turned to face Kiro. "Well, how about that? She was so miserable living with you that she willingly charged straight to her death. Now, then. Who's next?"

[BGM: /watch?v=YMKskuvJTcs]

Harui's death sparked the other humans into action. And as predicted, they charged at not only Sirena but Liri and Akora as well. "Up!" Liri said, and she and Akora took to the air. It was really just a last, desperate hope, that none of the attackers would be capable of flight, but as expected some of them were.

"We can't flee," Akora said. "This isn't our fight, but if they're intent on dragging us into it, we have to end it here."

Again, Liri had to agree, no matter how much she didn't want to, and so she called forth her staff and turned to face her opponents. "We want no part in this," she said. "Please allow us to leave in peace!" But, as expected, the humans ignored her completely. And so as they came at her, she met their charge.

Unlike the other two, Sirena remained on the ground, which allowed all the humans present, even those who couldn't fly, to attack her. In fact, the ones who could fly left her to their landbound companions and turned their focus to the two youkai in the air.

Several humans came at Sirena at once. Sirena picked a direction and charged forward, pushing a makeshift weapon aside and slashing open its wielder's stomach as she passed, breaking out of the attempt to encircle her. The two nearest her came in at her, but she leapt at one, cutting through the man's pitchfork with her sword and delivering an uppercut to his chin, sending his head jerking backwards with a very audible snap. His neck thoroughly broken, the man went down, and Sirena thrust her sword behind her as the other one came in, impaling her without even turning her head. "Did you really think that would work? I already told you I can see all around."

As they were the ones who could fly, it went without saying that the humans facing Liri and Akora were far more prone to have some level of power. Liri weaved between blasts from two of them and retaliated with her own spread of shots, and though they tried, the two of them were clearly Inexperienced in combat, and both took several hits. Liri's shots had been weak, though, and her targets remained aloft and kept attacking.

Akora evaded a barrage and dove towards her attacker, and though the man tried to move out of the way, Akora was simply too fast. She was on him before he could do anything, and then an instant later he was dead, Akora having slashed his neck open. Akora let him fall to the ground as she turned her attention to the next enemy.

Though they couldn't fly, a couple of the humans still facing Sirena still had at least a minimal level of power, and they directed energy blasts at her, but the blasts were weak. Sirena didn't even bother to evade, and though the blasts struck her, they had no effect. The blasts she countered with, however, were another matter entirely, striking and killing both targets.

Some of the humans fled, and Sirena let them go, focusing on those that continued fighting. Not because the ones that remained were any sort of danger – there were powerful humans, but none here were among them – but rather because she wanted a few survivors. So she made no effort to stop the runners; she just let them run.

One of the remaining humans moved in on Sirena. The young woman wielded a scythe, but it was a farmer's scythe, meant as a tool rather than a weapon, and she clearly had no experience using it as a weapon. Her swing was clumsy, and Sirena ducked around it and grabbed the scythe just below the blade, easily wrenching it free from the woman's hand at the same time as she thrust her sword into the woman's chest. Another human came at her from behind, but she pulled her sword free and jumped over her attacker, landing behind him and slashing through his legs.

Akora killed another of her attackers, then noticed that one of them was flying away, clearly trying to flee the battle. But Akora wasn't about to let an enemy escape. She flew after the man, her far greater speed allowing to to catch up to him in seconds, and took him out before he could get away. Another human – the only one still attacking her, it seemed – fired on her, but this human didn't fare any better than the others. And once he was dealt with, Akora turned her attention to Liri.

Liri was still engaging her attackers, easily avoiding their fire and keeping them at bay. She kept up her attack, but didn't strike with anything meant to kill. Instead, she hoped to exhaust her opponents, ending the battle without having to truly harm them. But then, suddenly, Akora came in from behind them and tore them apart in quick succession. "Akora, what- why did you-"

"It's them or us," Akora said. "You know this couldn't end any other way."

And Liri did, as much as she wished it were otherwise. She didn't want to kill anyone, but these people were controlled by rage, lashing out in fear and anger. They wouldn't have backed down. But this hadn't just happened. This event, this battle, had been _arranged_. Arranged by that woman, Sirena. And so, with their opponents taken care of, Liri and Akora returned to the ground, where Sirena had just finished off her last opponent.

[End BGM]

Sirena turned to face the pair as they landed. "Good, you're unharmed. I have to apologize; I did not intend to involve others in this."

Liri kept her staff held at the ready. "You just slaughtered a couple dozen humans, and you're apologizing to _us_?"

"I intended to kill them. I did not intend to pull others into it. I was leading them to a cave, with the intent of ambushing them there. But once they saw you, I knew the plan had to change. They were ready to confront any youkai they saw, and that happened to be you."

"Why?" Liri said. "Why did you do it? Why did you kill them, lure them out to their deaths?"

"Because it was necessary. Gensokyo's existence depends on conflict between humans and youkai; you know this. If there is no conflict, no fear, Gensokyo will collapse. The cycle of conflict is essential. We need humans to hate and fear us, and they don't. Not anymore. Not since Reimu Hakurei implemented the danmaku system."

"That was decades ago, and Gensokyo's done just fine."

"The destabilization began slowly, yes, taking quite some time to build up to noticeable levels. But now its effect is undeniable. You can see it easily, in the current incident. Never before has Gensokyo faced an incident of this scale, this severity. This incident is what it is because of Gensokyo's growing instability. If things continue as they have, Gensokyo is doomed. But humans and youkai alike will not want to return to the old ways. The safety and peace provided by the current system are quite attractive, after all. A return to the old ways will not be accepted, so it must be induced. That is the reason behind my actions."

"Because if hatred between humans and youkai grows," Liri said, "if things reach a breaking point, if humans stop using danmaku and start fighting to kill, youkai will have no choice but to respond in kind and the danmaku system will collapse."

"That's correct," Sirena said, "and that is why I did what I did. I do regret that so many have had to die, though; I only did it because it's necessary."

"Really? Because you seemed pretty gleeful about it before the fight."

"I had to put on an act, to sell the hostility. That's why I developed an intimate relationship with one of them, too. A personal element makes such things so much more effective. When the survivors, the ones I let escape, once they return to the village and-"

Akora, new as she was to being a youkai, didn't really understand the talk of cycles and stability and such, and so had kept quiet. But this, this she understood, and so she cut Sirena off. "You left some alive?"

"Of course I did," Sirena said. "I need them to-"

" _Idiot_! Never leave an enemy alive!"

Akora took to the air, flying off in the direction of the village, and Liri knew exactly what she was doing. She meant to kill the surviving members of the mob. She still very much thought like the animal she once was, and as far as she was concerned, the only acceptable fate for an enemy was death. Only then was the enemy no longer a threat.

Liri didn't bother going after Akora. She knew she couldn't catch up to the eagle youkai in time to stop anything. And... as much as she hated the idea, Akora was probably right to finish them off. Such a large group being completely wiped out was bad enough, but if survivors returned to spread the word that they'd been deliberately lured to their deaths? Tricked by youkai they'd thought one of their own? No, killing them all was the better option. _Or at least the less bad one._

Sirena quickly realized what Akora was doing, and like Liri she also realized she couldn't catch up in time to do anything about it. "She's fast. No chance I'm catching her in time. I suppose I'll have to return to the village myself, as the sole survivor of a viscous ambush. Might even be better than the original plan, heighten the rage when I finally do reveal myself. I did consider doing it that way from the start, after all, but in the end, I concluded that the simpler plan would still do more than enough. But it seems that's no longer an option. Oh, well. I'll just have to lure out another group and-"

[BGM: /watch?v=VPXuopwIdBo]

Liri'd heard enough. She formed her staff's blade, then charged Sirena and struck, but Sirena reacted quickly, moving out of the way and spinning to face Liri, her sword held at the ready.

"You think I'm just going to let you do that?" Liri said. "Let you collapse the peace between humans and youkai? The danmaku system was introduced to _encourage_ the cycle of conflict, to allow it to continue!"

"That was the intent," Sirena said, "but sadly, Reimu was wrong. This age of peace may have been beneficial in the short term, but now it threatens to bring about our end. And so it must be brought to its end. That is my role. A youkai is born with a purpose, and this is mine. I exist to rekindle the old conflict, to reignite the hate and fear of times past."

Liri ran in again, but Sirena ducked around Liri's strike and countered with her own. Liri deflected the attack and retaliated with a burst of fire, Sirena jumping back to evade it.

"Youkai _were_ born with a purpose," Liri said, "but in Gensokyo this is no longer the case. You weren't born for this. You _chose_ it."

Sirena came in with a strike from above. Liri blocked the attack with her staff and released another blast of flame, Sirena dodging to the side and releasing a blast of her own. Liri leapt back to avoid it, then sent several blades of wind towards Sirena, who managed to evade them all.

"I chose nothing," Sirena said. "Do you truly believe I _want_ to do this? I, too, would like for the current peace to last. But it cannot. We need the humans to fear us. We need to return to the old ways, before the danmaku system, when conflicts carried actual danger. It has to happen."

"And what makes you so certain this is the cause?"

"Observation. Observation on a level others cannot match. I see things others do not, and what I see now is Gensokyo under growing stress. I see the disruption of the long-standing cycle of conflict and fear between humans and youkai. And seeing what I see, knowing what I know, the choice was easy. Either some die in the conflict between humans and youkai, give their lives to ensure the cycle continues, or Gensokyo collapses and we all die."

And that was it. That was enough for Liri to reach a decision. Because Sirena was wrong. This wasn't a choice between some dying and everyone dying. It was between certainty and uncertainty. Because it wasn't about humans and youkai; it was about Gensokyo's nature as the land of fantasy. That was what fueled the cycle of stories. Were the cycle to continue, people would die from it. Were it to end, there was no telling what would happen. The cycle ensured Gensokyo's existence at the cost of the suffering and loss its stories required. And Sirena was a part of the current story.

"No," Liri said. " I don't know what you've seen, but you're wrong about what it means. This isn't about Gensokyo's balance. You're just part of the story. This is only to push humans and youkai apart. The story needs us divided so that we can overcome that division and unite against a common enemy." And that was why these humans had died. Simply to facilitate a story. It wasn't anyone's choice, anyone's responsibility; it was dictated by an outside force, for no better reason that said force felt it was 'supposed' to happen. And that, _that_ , was what made up Liri's mind.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirena said, "but I do know I have to do this. There's no other way. This is my purpose, and I will see it done."

There was no choice, then, but to fight, so Liri again charged at Sirena. This time, though she pulled slightly to the side, aiming a slash at Sirena as she ran past. Sirena blocked the strike, but Liri kept going, rising off the ground and spinning around as she fired a barrage of shots. Sirena rose from the ground herself, expertly weaving through Liri's shots while returning fire with her own.

Liri and Sirena exchanged fire, weaving their way around the trees and through each other's shot spreads. Liri, who lived in the Forest of Magic, was used to dealing with such obstacles, but while she'd hoped this would give her an advantage, such was not the case. Though Sirena wasn't accustomed to combat in such an environment, her ability to see in all directions meant she still had the advantage while among the trees. So Liri dipped below her opponent and fired a wide spread, driving Sirena upwards as she evaded. Liri then shot upwards herself, continuing to fire as she broke through the treeline and into the open sky. And though Sirena's ability aided her amongst the trees, they still restricted her mobility. If she remained there, her opponent would have an advantage, and so she followed Liri up above the forest.

Though the forest was no longer a factor, Liri quickly found that Sirena still had the advantage. Both were producing high levels of fire and using conjured nodes to fire from multiple locations, but it was soon clear that Sirena was better at it than Liri. Liri was quite familiar with nodes, for danmaku or otherwise, but while Sirena's were fewer in number, she used them exceptionally well. While most had to divide their attention between any active nodes, Sirena had no such issues, controlling them all simultaneously without her own movements suffering as a result. She fired on Liri from all sides, and while Liri did the same with her nodes, Sirena was clearly better at it. And while they were no longer among the trees, Sirena's ability still gave her an advantage as well. True, most anyone with a decent level of power learned to develop an awareness of their surroundings (given the way danmaku battles required one to be aware of all active bullets, including ones not currently within sight, such awareness was essential against all but the weaker opponents), but Sirena's ability to actually see all around herself was a step beyond that. In one-on-one combat at close range it wasn't really a factor, but when exchanging fire, danmaku or (as was the case here) not, the edge her ability gave her was substantial.

Liri knew that if she wanted to win, she'd have to get up close, but this would be easier said than done, as Sirena would doubtless act to keep the range open and thus preserve her advantage. But, fortunately, Liri had a few tricks up her sleeve. She kept up her fire as she moved in towards her opponent, but as expected, Sirena evade her charge, keeping the range open. Liri flew in again, directing her fire in an attempt to restrict Sirena's movement, but it didn't work; Sirena made her way through the fire and away. Liri tried again, and again, but with the same result. She made sure, however, that her last charge ended with her at a higher altitude than her opponent, and then she charged again.

Sirena once again moved through Liri's fire, but this time things went differently. Liri made use of her integration magic, reaching inside and altering herself, adding to herself the energy of wind magic. With her essence aligned to the air, her speed increased significantly, and she was able to alter her course much more quickly and precisely than she would otherwise be able to.

The sudden speed boost came as complete surprise to Sirena, who was unable to adjust in time to evade. Liri slammed into Sirena, and as she did, she altered her essence again, replacing the wind energy with that of earth magic. She impacted Sirena with increased weight and force, grabbing hold and carrying Sirena down with her. They crashed through the trees below and Liri slammed Sirena into the ground, holding her against it as they skidded to a halt.

Liri returned her essence to normal and held the blade of her staff at Sirena's throat. "It seems... that you win," Sirena said. "Fine. Kill me, then. But know that doing so will only lead to Gensokyo's end."

Liri almost did. She almost did, but she stopped herself. Although there was certainly a case to be made for doing it; killing Sirena would prevent the woman from making things any worse. But though she strongly considered it, in the end Liri decided not to kill Sirena. She had a better idea. Killing Sirena wouldn't make things any better, but perhaps _not_ killing her could.

"I'm not going to kill you," Liri said. "I'm going to return with you to the village. You will assume your human identity, and once Akora gets back, you will take us to the village. You will tell the people there that it was not us but the Twisted who massacred your mob, and that you only survived because Akora and I saved you. You will tell the people that the Twisted, not any youkai, are responsible for the recent deaths and disappearances, and that in fact you would be among those deaths if not for the actions of youkai."

"What I've done is to keep Gensokyo alive, and you would have me go against that?"

"This incident isn't caused by a lack of humans' fear of youkai. It's caused by Gensokyo's connection with the outside world. It's happening because we are their fantasy. Every incident is simply another story. Your actions have only served to further the current story, and now we must see it through to its conclusion. That means uniting humans and youkai against the Twisted. Otherwise, the Twisted and their creator will destroy Gensokyo." _And all for no better reason than it's what the story says her goal is supposed to be._

Sirena was silent for a moment, then, "...Very well. I will do what you say."

 _That was too easy._ "Really, just like that? Why would I believe you actually intend to do as I say?"

"The loser submits to the will of the victor," Sirena said. "Which is as it should be. The danmaku system got at least that much right. You won, and I lost. Thus, I submit to your will. Even if it does mean the end of Gensokyo."

"It won't," Liri said. "Not from this story, and not from any other." Because there wouldn't be any others. She'd made her decision.

Once matters in the village had been attended to, Liri would go to Luna and learn how to fight the cycle of stories.

* * *

 **I believe this is the longest I've ever gone between chapters. I apologize for the wait, but hopefully it was worth it.**

 **So, yeah, a lot happened in this chapter. Liri and Sanae both came to an important realization, and also Sirena's true nature was revealed, as well as the fact that she is the narrator. I'd like to note that Sirena's true appearance and dress, a little black but mostly white, is meant to be evocative of the eye, which, despite the part we call its color, is mostly white, while the pupil is black. Sirena's ability is sight-related, so I thought it appropriate for her appearance to be representative of an eye.**

 **Anyways, I'm sure you have thoughts on the story given all that's happened, so please don't hesitate to share them. And it shouldn't take quite as long to get the next chapter up, so I hope to see you there.**


	11. Chapter 10: Plans

**Chapter 10  
** _Plans_

"I still question this," Akora said as she, Liri, and Sirena approached the village. "It would be better to kill her and be done with all of this."

"Except that we wouldn't be," Liri said. "Sirena isn't the real danger here. Not every problem can be solved so easily. Just trust me, Akora; this is the best option."

"I will take your word for it, then."

"Thank you," Liri said. And it _would_ work; that seemed certain. After all, humans and youkai uniting against Mephilia was what the story wanted, and Sirena's cooperation would ensure that.

The village sentries spotted them as they neared, and a fairly sizable crowd gathered to meet them at the edge of the village, many of them armed in the same way the mob had been. And they weren't in a good mood. They were brandishing their weapons, and there were many hateful and hostile cries directed at Liri and especially Akora.

Sirena – Ren, rather; she had again assumed her human guise – stepped forward. "Stand down. These two... they mean no harm."

More noise from the crowd, eventually cut off by a shout as Keine arrived on the scene. "QUIET!"

The crowd was rowdy and agitated, but Keine had mastered the 'stern teacher' approach, and they quieted down quite quickly. "Thank you," Keine said, then turned to Ren and the others. "Ren. And Liri, and... I don't know you. Ren, what happened? Where are the others?"

"Those... those monsters," Sirena said. "Not youkai; those Twisted things. They... they attacked, and... and..."

Sirena was putting on a good show, but this wasn't a surprise; after all, she'd been fooling the entire village for quite some time. Even Keine had no idea there was anything more to it. "Ren?"

"...Everyone else is dead. The Twisted killed them all. Kiro, Harui, everyone. They... would have killed me, too, but... these two," she indicated Liri and Akora, "saved me."

More cries from the villagers. "What?" " _Youkai_ saved you?" "That's impossible!" "That can't be right!" But Liri noted the fact that those most hostile and disbelieving responses were coming from the same few people. There was a general murmur from the crowd, and some exclamations of surprise, but the strongest hostility was only coming from those few people. Which made sense; doubtless most of those with stronger feelings of hatred had been among the mob. Still, there was enough general distrust and tension among humans in general that they wouldn't just take the word of a youkai, not even 'just' a magician. But hopefully hearing it from one of their own (or someone they _thought_ was one of them, at least) would be enough.

"It's true," Sirena said. "I... wouldn't be alive if not for these two. Those monsters, they... they killed everyone else. These two barely managed to save even just me."

One human stepped forward, looking not at Sirena but rather at the two youkai. "Bullshit. Do you think we don't know what this is? You're holding her hostage, forcing her to say these things. Trying to get us to trust you and make it easier for you to kill us all."

Sirena was doing an excellent job portraying Ren's barely-suppressed emotions, and at that moment she did just as good a job of showing them bursting out. "And just what the hell hold could they possibly have over me? The man I loved is _dead_! Those fucking monsters killed him? What the hell could anyone have over me now? My own life? You think I'd care if they killed me now? At least that way our souls could find each other in the Netherworld! But no, I stayed alive! I'm only here now so I can atone for my mistakes! Do you understand that? I'm the one who found a target for that mob, I'm the reason they were out there! Because I thought I'd found the youkai responsible for last night's killing! They were there because of _my mistake_! Kiro's dead, and it's _my fault_! And for what? We were all wrong! Sure, we knew the Twisted were a threat, but we couldn't stop looking for the youkai we were _so certain_ were behind them. We were so occupied staring into the shadows that we completely ignored the real danger right in front of us! And you're _still_ doing it! You still don't realize it's the Twisted that are the real enemy, and I will not accept that. Kiro had to die for me to realize our – _my_ – mistake, and if we don't realize it, then..." Sirena started to cry, "...then he died for nothing."

The crowd was mostly silenced by Sirena's outburst. And the outburst seemed to have the desired effect, as well. Ren's feelings for Kiro weren't a revelation – their relationship had been something of an open secret – but this just made her words more effective. Because the people knew of her feeling for Kiro, they understood where she was coming from. Sirena had intended to use that relationship to emphasize her betrayal, but it was working just as well to calm the flames as it would have to fan them.

Still, though, not everyone was going to be convinced. "There has to be _someone_ behind the Twisted," one woman said. "Those things aren't natural; someone had to _make_ them. Somewhere, there is at least _a_ youkai behind all of this."

There was a general murmur of agreement from the crowd, but then one voice rang out above the rest. "No."

* * *

Sanae arrived at the village to find quite a commotion just outside it. A crowd was gathered around three people, one of whom, to Sanae's surprise, was Liri. The eagle youkai Akora was there, too, along with a human Sanae didn't recognize. Soon, she drew close enough to hear what was being said. _Looks like I was right. Things have come to a head._

"There has to be _someone_ behind the Twisted," a woman said. "Those things aren't natural; someone had to _make_ them. Somewhere, there is at least _a_ youkai behind all of this."

 _Of course they think that,_ Sanae thought. And it was indeed no surprise that they were blaming youkai for the Twisted. After all, anti-youkai sentiment was at a high point, so of course they would blame anything bad on youkai. And even if it was just one youkai, they would attribute it to _all_ youkai. Sanae knew how that worked; she'd seen it clearly enough even just in the outside world, before coming to Gensokyo. And so she decided to take a chance.

 _Right, then. Time to play the odds._

"No," Sanae said as she landed between Liri and the villagers. "Not a youkai. A god. Mephilia, an evil god defeated and sealed away a thousand years ago. But now she's back, and she means to exact vengeance through Gensokyo's destruction. _She_ is the one behind the Twisted. And soon, she will awaken, and we will be faced with her full force. And the only way we can survive is to unite against her."

When there was prejudice against a certain group, the negative aspects or actions of an individual were attributed to the entire group. But gods were not such a group, and so the humans of the village would see the actions of an evil god as solely her own, not reflective of gods as a whole. As such, Sanae hoped that by saying Mephilia was a god, she could draw the villagers' animosity away from youkai and towards Mephilia without drawing it towards gods as a whole. And given how stories like this one worked, the claim that Mephilia was a god was probably even true.

There was more noise from the crowd, which clearly wasn't quite convinced. But then Keine stepped forward and turned to face them. "What she says is true. I have witnessed it for myself." Which wasn't _completely_ true, but she _had_ been there during the attack on the village, when Mephilia had first revealed herself through that one particular Twisted. "We didn't understand then what it meant, but Sanae is right. We cannot face this threat alone."

"The only way we can win against this threat," Sanae said, "is to stand together! To face it not as humans and youkai, but as the people of Gensokyo! We stand together, or we fall. I choose to stand; what of you?"

Now the woman with Liri spoke. "I made the mistake of blaming Youkai for an evil god's actions, but it's not too late to correct this mistake. I know where I stand; where do _you_ stand?"

Murmurs from the crowd, but then those murmurs built up. And though there were voices that objected, it was clear where the crowd as a whole stood. "Yes!" Sasnae said. "We will all stand together against Mephilia, and as one, we will cast her out!"

* * *

"I guess I came at the perfect time," Sanae said.

Liri and Sanae were in Keine's house, although Keine wasn't there. She'd left to go speak with the villagers; although Sirena and Sanae seemed to have won them over, getting them to accept uniting with youkai wasn't quite that simple. But after what Sirena and Sanae'd had to say, Keine was confident it would happen.

"Of course you did," Liri said. _Because the story needed you to._ "Sanae, I... I figured it out. This will sound crazy, but I think this is all happening _because of_ the story, that-"

"That the story itself is causing these events" Sanae said. "I figured it out as well. And it's not just this incident, either, is it?"

"No," Liri said, "it's not. There's a cycle of stories, each incident just another story in the cycle."

"A cycle that ensures Gensokyo's survival but also that Gensokyo will repeatedly face danger."

"You figured that part out, too. That's good, because... well, because of Luna. She told me to asked myself if the safety is worth the price, and... no. I don't believe it is. And I think Luna intends to do something about it."

"And you think she's right? Even though Gensokyo's already faced several incidents that could have destroyed it and will almost certainly face others in the future, with or without any story's influence?"

"Gensokyo," Liri said, "is home to more than a few exceptionally powerful individuals, all of whom have a vested interest in its survival. Do you really think someone like Yukari wouldn't intervene if necessary?"

'Yukari can't intervene," Sanae said. "The story won't allow it. The 'powers that be' never act directly. We have to face the enemy ourselves; they can't do it for us." _Wait, but she's saying..._ "But if the story's influence was gone, then... yes, Yukari would certainly do something about it."

"And she's hardly the only one. No, Gensokyo will endure. It doesn't need these stories, and _we_ don't need the suffering that comes about as a result of them."

"So you mean to aid Luna, then."

"I do," Liri said. "I won't make any final decisions until I know what she intends to do, but yes, I believe she's right. And if we can pull it off, we won't have to worry about another story showing up in the future."

"Which sounds great," Sanae said, "but first we have to survive _this_ one, and I don't think that'll be easy. We need some sort of a plan. The good news is, I think I have one. Liri, we know where all five seals are. With that information, is it possible to predict where Mephilia would appear when all of them are broken?"

"Hmm... I believe so, yes. Although I think Patchouli would be better suited to make that determination than I would."

"That's fine. So, then, what we'll do is follow how this works in the stories. The Twisted will attack not in smaller groups as they have until now, but as an army. They will attack here, attack the village, and no matter what we do, we won't be able to defeat the army. But what we _can_ do is hold it off long enough for a group of us to reach and defeat Mephilia herself, and her defeat will also put an end to her army of Twisted."

" _The first thing we need to do," Sanae said, "is evacuate most of the youkai settlements. The Twisted will be attacking not just this village, but any they can find. We've developed a way to conceal villages, but we only have enough units to hide half a dozen. We'll concentrate the weaker youkai in those villages. Those strong enough to fight, however, will gather here in the human village. We can't hide this one; the Twisted will attack it no matter what we do."_

" _Why can't we hide it?" Keine said._

" _Because they'll come anyways."_ Because that's how the story works. _"Just trust me on this one, all right? They'll come for the human village no matter what we do, so it's the place to make our stand."_

 _Keine's house, still. Sanae was there, and Keine, and Reisen, and Liri was still present as well. "I hope you don't expect us to evacuate Eintei," Reisen said. "I don't think the earth rabbits would be willing."_

" _I'm not too worried about Eintei," Sanae said. "You guys can defend yourselves. Although if you can spare anyone, we'd welcome the aid."_

" _I'll see what I can do."_

"I say we do it," Kaguya said. "We don't need every rabbit to defend Eientei; we can send some to the village."

"Yes," Eirin said, "but in the end it's not our decision. Tewi, what do you say?"

For once, the leader of the earth rabbits was completely serious. "Gensokyo is our home. We'll do whatever we can to protect it."

"Well," Kaguya said, "there you have it! Eirin, it sounds like it's time to dust off those defense plans we came up with. Get everything ready, and then if we have some extra rabbits, send some to the village."

"Yes, Princess," Eirin said.

" _The underground is a similar situation," Sanae said. "The palace and the oni are more than capable of defending themselves, but we could certainly use anyone they can spare."_

" _Leave that one to me," Liri said. "I'll talk to Enkara."_

" _Who?"_

" _She's sort of the oni's envoy to the surface. Informally, of course; the oni aren't exactly big on formalities. And she also happens to be a friend of mine. I'm surprised you don't know her, as much business as you do with the underground."_

" _We don't really have any contact with the oni," Sanae said. "We work with the Palace of Earth Spirits directly."_

" _Ah, of course. Perhaps you should be the one to speak with Satori, then, but you can leave the oni to me._

"Damn," Enkara said, "this has gotten serious."

"It has indeed," Liri said. "You can understand why we'd want help from the oni."

"Obviously, yeah. And sure, I'd say we can send a few your way. I'll see if I can get Yuugi to come up, too; might be a good one to bring with you against Mephilia. Suika'd help, too, though she might be better at the village just stomping on the enemy army. But sure, we'll help. Might want to have some sake ready, though. The good stuff, too."

"I'd imagine that can be arranged."

" _Then I'll speak with Satori," Sanae said._

"You're right," Satori said. "A lot of that is hard to believe. But those parts don't matter. The Twisted are real, and Mephilia is real. That's what matters. I'm afraid I don't have anything to contribute to the defense of the village, however. Ah, but you're not here for that. You're asking the oni for help with that part. You've come to me because... yes, that makes sense. You'd like Okuu's help against Mephilia. I'm... hesitant to put her in danger, but then I recognize that, given how much power she has, there's a limit to how much danger she'd be in. And I would be accompanying her, anyways. Very well. I'll ask her if she's willing to help."

Sanae hadn't said a single word. Even now, she didn't even have a chance to thank Satori. "You're welcome," Satori said.

" _The tengu and kappa villages will be among those we hide," Sanae said. "That way, we won't have to worry about defending them and we can concentrate all of our forces in the human village."_

" _Youkai forces," Keine said, "here in the village."_

" _This will be the main focus of the Twisted's attack, regardless of what we do. It's the only logical place to make our stand, and this_ will _take all of us, human and youkai. Will that be a problem?"_

" _It might," Keine said, "Anti-youkai sentiment isn't going to just disappear just because of one speech, but... they'll be here to help us defend ourselves against annihilation. I think I can sell that. Especially with Ren pushing for it, too. She wasn't one of the worst, but she was still on the forefront of anti-youkai sentiment; having her advocating cooperation should have a significant effect."_

 _Of course, it also helped that the worst of the anti-youkai crowd were dead, having been in the mob. Nobody said it, but nobody really needed to._

" _Are you planning," Keine went on, "to shelter anyone in the village? Because that may be a bit of a harder sell."_

" _We won't be bringing any non-combatants here," Sanae said, "no. In fact, ideally we'd evacuate the villagers to one of the hidden villages, but I doubt they'd be willing."_

" _Indeed," Keine said. "Even outside of any hostility toward youkai, they simply wouldn't want to leave. This is their home, after all. In fact, I think more than a few will be willing to fight with you in its defense."_

" _I'm glad to hear that," Sanae said, "because I suspect we'll need all the help we can get. This attack is going to be fierce, and it will take everything we have to hold it off."_

" _'Hold it off'?" Keine said. "Not win?"_

" _That's not how this works. The source of the Twisted is Mephilia; as long as she lives, defeating them is impossible. They'll just keep coming. In order to win, we have to defeat her."_

" _Then why not just go straight for her, before her army of Twisted can attack?"_

" _It's... complicated," Liri said, "but the short version is that it wouldn't work, as we won't be able to get at her until the attack begins." She knew the truth, of course, that the reason a preemptive strike wouldn't succeed was because that simply wasn't how the stories worked. But rather than trying to convince Keine of the whole 'story' aspect, Liri and Sanae had decided not to mention that part._

" _Just trust us," Sanae said. "We wouldn't be putting the village at risk if there was any way to avoid it."_

" _...All right," Keine said. "So your forces will hold off the Twisted army while you go after Mephilia."_

 _Sanae nodded. "While the battle is ongoing, I'll lead a smaller group against Mephilia. It won't be easy, so we'll need as many powerful individuals as we can get. So if you know of anyone, it would be a good idea to ask for their help."_

" _I do know someone," Liri said, "and I think Alraune will be more than willing to help. And... she may know someone else who fits our needs."_

"Alraune," Yuuka said. "I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

"Things are coming to a head," Alraune said. "In just a couple days, the real attack will start, but apparently once it does, Mephilia will be vulnerable. So while the mountain's forces – and anyone else's they can get – are engaging the Twisted army, a smaller force is going to attack Mephilia directly. Apparently, killing Mephilia will also destroy the Twisted, or at least that's what Sanae says."

"I can see it," Yuuka said. "The Twisted are unnatural, are abominations. Such monstrosities can't exist on their own. If Mephilia is their creator, then she is also what sustains their existence. Remove that sustenance, and yes, they may very well cease to exist."

"And even if they don't," Alraune said, "killing Mephilia will prevent the creation of any more of them. Either way, taking her out is the key."

"And you want my aid."

"Sanae's going to lead a strike against Mephilia, and she wants as many powerful individuals as she can get."

Yuuka chuckled. "Even me? She must be desperate."

"Well, I don't think she knows it's you I'm talking to, but yes, I think she'll take anyone she can get. I'll be accompanying her; what about you?"

"Hmm..." Yuuka thought for a moment, then, "I will not be joining you."

"Yuuka, this is serious. If we don't win this fight, Gensokyo is-"

Yuuka cut her off. "I never said I wouldn't fight. The Twisted are abominations, and as their creator, Mephilia's very existence is an affront to nature. Make no mistake, Alraune; I _absolutely_ mean to kill her. I simply won't be joining Sanae's group to do so. It would be foolish to show all one's cards at the beginning; after all, one must save something in case of need."

" _All right, then," Sanae said. "It sounds as though we all have work to do, so let's get moving."_

After speaking with Enkara and Alraune, Liri had another matter to attend to.

Liri arrived at the location Luna'd specified to find the mysterious youkai engaged in battle., Luna's opponent was a youkai Liri hadn't seen before, but she still had a pretty good guess as to who it was. _That must be that 'Herald' person who's been breaking the seals._

Herald, whose powers appeared to be darkness-based, was putting up a good fight, but Luna clearly had the upper hand, and so Herald soon turned to flee. Liri, anticipating this, threw up a quick barrier in Herald's path, and though Herald easily broke through the hastily-constructed barrier, it delayed her long enough for Luna to catch her and finish her off.

Luna returned to the ground as Liri entered the clearing. "I appreciate the assistance."

"That was Herald, I take it?"

"Indeed," Luna said. "She encountered your barrier at the remaining seal, but, not knowing of you, she believed I was responsible for it. She wanted to force me to open it."

"I see," Liri said. "Not that it matters. The seal will fail anyways, and there's no way to stop it. The story will continue regardless of what we do."

"Indeed. Herald's role was complete; at this point, she was nothing but a loose end. Her death changes nothing." Luna paused for a moment, then, "So... you've figured it out, then."

Liri nodded. "What's happening is the result of a storyline from the outside world imposing itself upon Gensokyo. And it's not the first time this has happened."

"That's right. Gensokyo exists as the outside world's fantasy, which means it's connected to the outside _by_ fantasy. And that fantasy influences Gensokyo. When one incident ends, another will eventually begin. A cycle of stories. And... you understand, too, why I did not simply tell you this, am I correct?"

"Because of how crazy it sounds, I would imagine. If you'd told me outright, I wouldn't have accepted it right away. Though I think I would have eventually. I'd have thought about it, realized that it fits when no other explanation does."

"Perhaps," Luna said, "but I would rather not take such a chance. If I had just told you, it would have been hard to believe, maybe even impossible. But by simply giving you the pieces, you were much more likely to accept the picture they formed. After all, it's easy to dismiss an insane truth someone tells you but much harder to dismiss it when you've seen the pieces and put them together yourself."

"Which I did. Sanae, too. But I do still have one question: why give me the pieces at all?"

"The cycle ensures Gensokyo's survival," Luna said, "but it does so at a cost. The people who suffer or die, the damage caused, that is the cycle's price. The cycle guarantees survival, but also death. Do you believe this price to be worth said safety?"

"No," Liri said. "We don't need the cycle's protection."

"Are you certain? Gensokyo is home to some exceptionally dangerous individuals, many of whom could easily destroy it if they wanted to. It is the cycle's existence that ensures they do not. Without it, we would no longer have that guarantee of survival."

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Sanae," Liri said. "Gensokyo is home to many extremely powerful individuals, all of whom have a vested interest in its survival. Even if someone does decide to destroy it, or take actions that would put it at risk, do you really think someone like Yukari would simply stand by and let it happen?"

"Yukari can't do everything. What if she's not able to stop it?"

"Then others will join the effort. Even someone such as Yuuka; despite what people say about her, she would not want Gensokyo's end. And there's a friend of mine who's just as powerful who would also intervene. Or Makai's goddess, Shinki; Gensokyo's destruction would affect Makai as well, and besides, her daughter resides in Gensokyo. Hell, Gensokyo's destruction would disrupt the order of life enough that even the yama would likely intervene to stop it."

"And you're willing to bet Gensokyo's existence on that?"

"Gensokyo will endure."

"Good," Luna said. "I'm glad to hear you say that, because I agree. Which brings us to your question. The reason I gave you the pieces, Liri, was because I want your assistance in bringing the cycle to an end."

"I see. Although I'm not sure what you would need me for. You're exceptionally powerful yourself; I don't think I could add much to that."

"It's not about power. What needs doing, you're more than strong enough to do it yourself. In fact, given your greater skill with magic, you'll do a better job than I could. But the real reason I want your aid is because doing this properly requires multiple people. Preferably three, though two would be sufficient. I'm powerful enough that I likely could manage it on my own, but it would be a brute-force solution that could very well cause damage. I would have done it myself anyways, but I found it likely the story would bring to me someone who could help, if only she could be convinced to do so."

"I do believe the cycle should be broken," Liri said, "so yes, I will assist you. But tell me, how exactly do you intend to do this?"

"Gensokyo and the outside world are connected, and it is this connection that allows the outside world's stories to influence us, that traps us in the cycle of stories. If we break that connection, the cycle will end. It will not completely separate us from the outside world – Gensokyo will always be where magic and forgotten beings go, and the worlds will still be close enough for people and objects from the outside to fall into Gensokyo – but it will prevent the sort of direct influence we have now."

"And you'll use your power of cycles to break that connection. I still don't see where I come in."

"The connection is what results in the cycle," Luna said, "but it is not part of any cycle itself, so it is outside the influence of my power of cycles. In order to sever the connection, we will need to break its flow. Once we do that, the connection will collapse. Even just for an instant will be enough. It is, however, a fairly strong flow, hard to stop. And simply putting a barrier in the way won't work, anyways; the connection would simply flow around it. Nor, obviously, can we just redirect the flow; we have to actually break it. Can you tell me, then, how to do such a thing?"

"Block it _and_ redirect it," Liri said. "Construct a shaped barrier in the flow. Get it to flow around and out, then a concave bend. Think of it... well, say you have a stream of water. Put a cone in that stream, and the water will flow down it. Then, have sort of a bowl-shaped ring around the bottom of the cone, though not quite a bowl; bowls are meant to contain, whereas what we're doing here is directing the flow back upwards. Make it a smooth, wide curve, so the water flows smoothly along it and launches back up. Now, water will, of course, arc back downward, but en energy flow would not. Of course, the barrier wouldn't _actually_ be that shape, but it gives you a decent idea of how the barrier would work."

"And that," Luna said, "is why your aid is so appreciated. I couldn't craft a shaped barrier myself; I would have had to essentially push the stream back onto itself."

"That... could certainly go wrong. And cause problems even if it succeeded, the energy bleed alone would be more than capable of doing significant damage."

"Which is why I'm glad to be able to do it your way."

"As am I. And you're right; my way does require at least two people. The barrier will have to be constructed in two parts and combined while already in the stream. If I tried to build it as one piece, the energy would catch in the bowl as it's built. I'll have to make the cone and inner half of the bowl as one piece, and the outer half as another piece, and then combine them. So, yes, I'll need a second person, someone to hold one piece in place while I craft the other. The stream could flow around either piece easily, so they wouldn't be damaged until combined. If the stream is as strong as you say, then once they're combined and taking the force rather than letting it flow around them, the construct will likely only last a few moments, but a few moments will be enough."

"Then I shall secure the first piece in place while you craft the other."

"Wouldn't have to be you," Liri said. "I'll make the cone piece first. The energy will flow around it, so it won't be hit by any. It'd be like a stick in a river; all that's needed is someone to hold it from getting swept away in the flow. Won;t take a lot of power. I even know a fairy who could probably do it, although she _is_ unusually strong for a fairy."

"Perhaps you should bring her, then, or someone else who could do it. It never hurts to have a backup, after all."

"True enough. Now, where is this 'stream'?"

"That," Luna said, "is the hard part. To reach it, we will have to pass into the space between gensokyo and the outside world, which will require us to slip outside the cycle of existence. I am capable of this, but there's only one place in Gensokyo where it can be done. A place where the cycle of life is at its peak, its greatest transition. We will have to make our entrance into the space between worlds from directly above the Sanzu River."

"...Oh. And... how? Only the Yama or a shinigami's ferry can cross the river. Anyone else will fail, their souls lost forever in the river."

"The river is where living becomes dead, where souls pass into the afterlife. It plays a key role in the cycle of life and death. As such, my power of cycles enables me to suppress its effects long enough for us to reach its middle, where we will slip outside of its cycle and into the space between worlds. But this is not without danger. As soon as we pass over the river, the soulless evil spirits trapped there will attack. We may also draw the shinigami's attention, though unless one happens to be in just the right place when we begin, I doubt any will reach us before we pass between worlds. But we will certainly encounter the evil spirits, so be prepared to fight them off."

"All right. When do we go?"

"When the story reaches its climax," Luna said. "That is when it will be vulnerable, so that is when we must strike."

* * *

They were on the ground, two of them. Two Twisted, heading straight for the 'convoy', as it was being called, though it was no such thing. Just the youkai of various villages making their way to one of the designated safe areas, the villages in which right now the kappa were setting up their new camouflage system.

Momiji didn't give the Twisted any chance to see her coming. She swooped down, hit the ground running, and cut through them both. One strike wasn't enough to kill them, of course, but though they tried to fight back, they were no match for Momiji's speed, strength, and skill, and the wolf tengu made short work of them.

Momiji looked around, seeing that her companions had taken care of their targets as well. "Good work. Let's rejoin the others." Her companions nodded, and the three of them rejoined the escort formation around the convoy.

In preparation for the anticipated battle, youkai were being evacuated from most villages and gathered in a half-dozen designated 'safe zones', villages the kappa were going to conceal. On the mountain, that meant the tengu and kappa villages; outside off the mountain, that meant one of four villages spaced throughout Gensokyo, chosen for being spread throughout Gensokyo such that nobody had too far to go to reach one. And the villages weren't the only places people were gathering, either. Some made their way to the Myouren Temple, trusting Byakuren and her disciples to protect them, and many youkai in the bamboo forest were seeking shelter in Eientei. And many aquatic youkai were heading for the Misty Lake, where Sanae was certain they'd be safe. "I have it on good authority," the maiden had said, "that the mermaid princess is more than capable of protecting the lake and anyone within it."

This was the second day; evacuations had begun the day before, as soon as Sanae had returned from the human village. Though the evacuees would likely be safe once they reached their destinations, Sanae had predicted some danger along the way. As such, multiple tengu squads had been dispatched as escorts, and Momiji's was not the first of them to have encountered the enemy. The Twisted had been continually harassing the evacuees, but it hadn't yet been anything more than that. Just small groups, easily fended off.

This particular batch of evacuees arrived at their destination without further incident, and Momiji addressed the team. "All right, Greentree's next. If everything's on schedule, they should be ready to leave by the time we get there. So let's move!"

* * *

"She's using the story against itself," Sanae said. "Clever."

This time, Liri had come to the mountain; Sanae was involved in preparations with the tengu and kappa, and so instead Liri had come to the shrine. "'Using the story against itself'?" she said. "What do you mean?"

"I think I've mentioned before that these stories often involve cycles, often a cycle of whatever evil being returning to the world. Such stories almost always involve finding a way to break this cycle. It's a normal thing for stories like this, and it sounds like Luna means to take advantage of that. She'll strike when the story would expect a cycle to be broken, and so the story won't resist her efforts. But instead of breaking a cycle _within_ the story, she'll be breaking one _outside_ the story."

" _We_ will, actually," Liri said. "I'll be accompanying her in this endeavor; she could succeed on her own through brute force, but I can do it much more elegantly, and with much less chance of unintended consequences. It's not something I can do on my own – in the expected circumstances, I'll need a second person to hold something in place – but I won't be on my own. Luna will be there, and I may bring Tilea as well, just in case."

"All right," Sanae said. "I'll handle the battle, then, and you handle making sure something like this doesn't happen again."

* * *

"I don't really understand all that," Tilea said, "but sure, I'll help."

"You're sure?" Liri said.

"Of course! You wouldn't be doing anything bad. Besides, I may not be the sharpest... sharp... thing... in the... place... with a lot of sharp things, but I know these Twisted things are bad, and you're trying to get rid of what made them, right?"

Liri nodded. "That's right."

"That's good enough for me! I'll do whatever you need me to!"

"Glad to hear it, Tilea. Thanks."

"No problem!"

* * *

"You know it's the right choice," Kanako said. "Nobody in Gensokyo is better suited to lead our forces in this battle than Suwako and myself."

"It doesn't matter," Sanae said. "I can't... you can't..."

"I understand your concern."

"I don't," Mystia said. "Aren't we all going to be fighting anyways? Heck, I'd think the leaders would be safer. They stay back from the fighting, right? They couldn't lead too well if they were busy fighting."

"It's the story," Sanae said. "What we're doing is common in these stories, an army making a final stand while a smaller group goes for the win. And... they succeed, but... not without cost."

"She's concerned, Mystia," Kanako said, "that if we lead the battle, Suwako or myself, or both of us, will die. Will have to give our lives to keep the enemy at bay."

"...Oh," Mystia said.

"I don't want to lose you, Kanako," Sanae said. "You or Suwako. And if you do this, at least one of you almost certainly will. I... I can't let that happen. You can't do this."

"We can and we will," Kanako said. "Suwako and I have both been goddesses of war, Sanae. We have both led our peoples to victory many times throughout history. We alone in Gensokyo have commanded armies. And once more, the Goddesses of Moriya will see to it their people emerge triumphant from the coming battle."

"...I know," Sanae eventually said with reluctance. "I just... you know how it plays out. You know what'll happen to you."

"Don't be mistaken, Sanae," Kanako said. "We have no intention of dying. What the story wants doesn't matter; if it tries to take our lives, it will find us to be no easy prey. Even if the Twisted can kill us, gods do not die easily. And besides, the whole point of this is to defy the story, to break away from it; that will be Lyra's task, will it not? Have faith, Sanae; we do not intend to fall here."

"...Very well," Sanae said. "You are my god; I will do as you command."

"Oh, don't think like that. After all, you won't be our maiden for much longer. In fact, I suspect you will ascend during the battle with Mephilia."

Sanae thought about that. "Yes, that's a good point. I probably will. Gaining new power at a crucial moment is common in the stories. But I will always be loyal to you, Kanako. You and Suwako both."

"Perhaps, but you will not be our servant."

"Then we will be allies as gods."

"I imagine so. But first, we must survive this battle."

"Yes," Sanae said. "All right, then. I don't like it, but I will leave the defense to you. I'll trust you to keep the people of Gensokyo safe, and you can leave Mephilia to me."

* * *

They were ready by the next day, just two days after they made their plan, and Lyra and Tilea has just met up with Luna. "I've visited the seal," Lyra said. "It's degraded impossibly quickly; at this rate, it's likely to break in just an hour or two. Fortunately, everyone should be in position by then."

"There's no doubt they will be," Luna said. "The story will ensure it; in fact, I expect the seal will fail the instant Sanae's team arrives. They know where to go, I take it?"

Lyra nodded. "Patchouli and I analyzed the positioning of the seals to determine where Mephilia will appear. It won't just be in the middle of them; the forces involved are more complicated than that. They're positioned t resonance points, but those points are not evenly spaced from each other. That, and the irregular shape of the border, and many other things influence where the seals' energies converge most strongly, and that is the true location at which Mephilia is sealed. That is where she will appear."

"Good." Luna then turned to the other one present. "And you, you must be Tilea."

"Yep!" Tilea said. "You're... Luna, right? Huh, you kinda look like Cirno's friend... Rumia, that's her name." Lyra hadn't tried to explain that part to Tilea; the fairy wouldn't have understood anyways. Fortunately, Tilea moved on immediately. "Right, are we ready to go?"

"We are," Luna said. "Let's get into position. Follow me."

* * *

"What do you mean, 'no'? This is our home! And you're telling us you won't let us fight in its defense?"

The force was assembled outside the human village, and, as expected, a number of the villagers wanted to join the fight.

"I won't permit you to throw your lives away," Kanako said. "That will be of no help to anyone."

"You don't think we can fight?" the man said. "I'm one of the village's best hunters! And you don't think I can hold my own in battle?"

"There are many skilled hunters here," Kanako said, "but a skilled hunter isn't necessarily a skilled _fighter_. And I think you know this. Do not compare this battle to hunting a youkai; you will find none of your typical advantages here. There are no traps, no ambushes, and these enemies cannot be weakened by seals or felled by poisons."

Another of the villagers spoke up. "I don't care! I'm not going to just stand by while my home is attacked! This is _our_ home, and you think you can just tell us to do nothing for it?"

"You misunderstand," Kanako said. "You are not warriors; you have no place in a full-scale battle. But I would never think to order you to simply do nothing. There is a task, an important one, and I would leave this task to you."

"And what is this 'task'?" one of the villagers said.

"Simple. Our defensive line encircles the entire village, as the enemy will come from all directions. But no defense is perfect. The Twisted army will not penetrate our line, of that you have my word, but individual Twisted may well slip into the village, and their mindless hostility will draw them towards the people within. What would happen, then, if there was nobody within the village to defend them? We will not be able to; repelling the army will require our full attention. But someone has to, and it is this task I would leave to you. I would have you guard the people within this village so that we may focus on our fight. Do you accept?"

Silence at first, then murmurs of agreement. "I believe we do," a woman said.

"Good. Gather the villagers together into one location; that will make them easier to guard. The school, perhaps; I imagine you can fit them all within it. Then, with the knowledge of where the enemy will have to come, you can set your traps, ready your ambushes. Turn the situation to your advantage, as you would on a hunt. And guard your people well."

"We will. You can be sure of that."

"I am glad to hear it," Kanako said.

* * *

Alraune was there, and Akora. The oni Yuugi Hoshiguma was present as well. Utsuho Reuji was there, accompanied by Satori (who was currently off to the side, away from the rest of the group). Byakuren felt that her place was at the village, but Nue Houjuu was present in her place, Mamizou Futatsuiwa accompanying her. Fujiwara no Mokou was there, too, Keine having convinced her to join the group. And last was Alice Margatroid; Alice had been reluctant at first, but Sanae had convinced her to come along. Mephilia would likely be accompanied by Twisted, and with her dolls, Alice was an ideal choice to keep them at bay.

"All right," Sanae said, "you all know the plan, such as it is. We know where Mephilia will appear; our job is to take her out. You are among the strongest individuals in Gensokyo, but Mephilia will be stronger; it will take all of us to defeat her. Any questions?" There were none. "Good. Very well, then. Let's go."

* * *

"Stop being stupid, Dai!" Cirno said. "I'm the strongest, so I'm going to fight!"

Which, Daiyousei knew, was a bad idea; Cirno would only be getting herself killed. But she knew there was no way she'd ever convince Cirno of this. Fortunately, there was another way she could get Cirno to stay in the village.

"I don't care how strong you are," Daiyousei said. "You're just one person, and they have an army. They'll be fine without you. But what about here?"

Cirno'd been ready to object, but the question took her by surprise. "Huh?"

"It's only weaker youkai here. That kappa device is hiding this village from sight, but it can't stop a Twisted from just happening to wander in. And then what happens? There's no one here to stop it, nobody who can defend the youkai here. Nobody except you. They need you here, Cirno."

Cirno gave that a bit of thought, or at least the closest she could manage. "You know what? You're right. Okay, then! The people here have nothing to fear; I, Cirno, shall protect them!"

"Good," Daiyousei said. _I don't know what you're doing right now, Mystia, but I'll do what you asked. I'll make sure Cirno and I survive. I promise._

* * *

Sirena was... conflicted.

Amidst all the activity in and around it, slipping out of the village unnoticed had been easy. And Sirena did not mean to return. Without the goal of inciting them against Youkai, she had no reason to remain. And nobody would question the disappearance of 'Ren'; she would simply be counted among the doubtlessly-numerous casualties. But Sirena did not know what to do next.

For a long time now, she'd been guided by her purpose, by the objective of inflaming tensions between humans and youkai. Her goal had been the dissolution of the danmaku system, but she had failed when she was defeated by Lyra, and without that goal, she was... lost.

Lyra had told her enough. After their fight, she'd mentioned the story, and on the way back to the village she'd explained the rest. Sirena wasn't sure if she believed it, but she knew Lyra believed it. But she wasn't obligated to aid Lyra; Lyra's demand had been for her to cease inflaming tensions and rally the villagers to join forces with youkai in order to oppose the Twisted, and she had done so. She did not need to join the fight against the Twisted herself, did not need to aid against this 'Mephilia'. But... what _would_ she do?

Sirena understood the gravity of her actions. Many had died because of her, and countless more would have died had she succeeded. But she had never doubted her actions; preserving Gensokyo was more than worth that price. But she had failed, and people whose deaths would have helped preserve Gensokyo had now died for nothing. For Gensokyo's sake, Sirena truly did hope that Lyra was right, that conflict under the danmaku system was enough to preserve Gensokyo and that any danger was due to this 'cycle of stories', but either way, Sirena's own actions had been for nothing. She'd done terrible things without hesitation, certain in the thought that doing so would lead to Gensokyo's preservation. That would be her redemption, that the right outcome sometimes required the worst of actions. But now those actions had not let to Gensokyo's preservation; they had instead been for nothing.

Sirena had never regretted her actions. Even now, it wasn't what she'd done that she regretted, but that it hadn't worked. She had always been certain in her purpose of preserving Gensokyo, and that any actions taken towards that purpose were justified. But her defeat had instead rendered those actions meaningless.

Sirena didn't want to simply do nothing. She had always acted in what she'd believed – _known_ – to be Gensokyo's best interests. But her efforts had amounted to nothing. And if Lyra was right, they hadn't even been of her own choosing, had they? If Lyra was right, it would mean that she had never been guided by purpose, that everything she'd done had been solely for the sake of some 'story', a conflict created for no reason but to be resolved. All those she'd killed, and for no reason but to create a division that existed for the sole purpose of being resolved. Her actions, the people she'd killed, nothing more than a plot point. Worse than useless.

 _Worse than useless._

* * *

"Everything looks good," Takeri said. "All units are green. Camouflage is running smoothly."

"Good," Nitori said.

The two of them were in the human village, in an unoccupied house the kappa had set up as sort of a command center for the coming battle. Takeri and Nitori had their own equipment set up as a central command station for the new camouflage systems. Systems were set up in six different villages, including the kappa and tengu villages, but the system was still new, so there was always the potential for unforeseen problems. There were technicians on site in each village, but Nitori and Takeri were the ones who knew the most about the system; others might not be as able to tell what was wrong. But there were only two of them, so they couldn't be in all six locations. Thus, their central command station.

"Well," Nitori said, "doesn't look like there's much to do here right now, so I'm going to go double-check some of the weapons."

"Everything's already been checked. We've got plenty of weapon techs here."

"Well, yes, but they're not me. What if they missed something?"

 _Oh, for-_ "Nitori, they're perfectly capable of doing this, and everything's been double-checked."

"Not by me. Just keep an eye on the systems; I know you can do that much on your own. Call me back immediately if anything goes wrong; you wouldn't know how to fix any of it yourself."

 _You are just one hell of an asshole sometimes, aren't you? And I'm pretty sure you don't even know it._ "Sure," Takeri said. "I'll do that."

"Thank you. And, Takeri, I'm-"

 _For the love of-_ "Would you stop apologizing for Liora's death? It was not. Your. Fault. Okay?"

"It was my-"

"Just go," Takeri said.

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it, okay? Just go already!"

Nitori paused for a moment. "Fine," she said eventually. "But you need to stop lying to yourself." And then she exited the house.

 _Does she really not understand?_ Takeri thought. _Can she not understand that it wasn't her fault?_

But really, Takeri was pretty sure she knew the answer to that.

* * *

It was time; the enemy was coming.

"Well," Suwako said, "I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be. I have to say, I didn't think we'd be doing this again."

"Leading an army?" Kanako said.

"Yeah. Gensokyo's not exactly a war-torn land, you know. Lot of fighting among individuals or groups, but nothing more, and thanks to danmaku it's generally not dangerous fighting either."

"There's plenty of danger here."

"Yeah, but not from the fights themselves."

"True enough," Kanako said. Then, "I suppose I'll address our forces, then."

"Go ahead. You always were better at this part. Here."

Suwako raised a pillar of rock, lifting Kanako up above the force gathered around the village. Then she spoke, using the wind to carry her voice such that all present could hear her.

"People of Gensokyo!" Kanaso said. "You all know why we're here, and the enemy approaches, so I'll keep this brief.

"Today, we face an enemy unlike any Gensokyo has ever known. An army of mindless abominations approaches, of twisted creatures who know only unthinking hostility. Creatures created by an evil god, and for one purpose: wiping Gensokyo clean of life.

"I'm not going to give you false reassurances. I'm not going to say we'll all survive, because we won't. Many of you – many of _us_ – will die in the coming battle. This is war, and in war there are casualties. Especially in a battle such as this. A battle against an enemy that cares not for its own survival, an enemy which exists in ever-growing numbers.

"As we speak, my shrine maiden is leading a force to strike at Mephilia herself. A force consisting of many of Gensokyo's most powerful individuals, with the goal of destroying Mephilia for good. A god Mephilia may be, but even she can be killed, and I have no doubt that Sanae and her force will succeed. Our task is to hold the Twisted at bay until they do.

"For many of you, there will come a point where our task seems impossible. The enemy will be present in overwhelming numbers, and no matter how many we destroy, more will come. And Sanae's battle will be hard-fought; as our battle drags on, you may come to believe she has lost. Many of you will fall into despair, will be convinced the only possible outcome is death.

"And you will be wrong.

"It doesn't matter how many of them come at us. It doesn't matter how long it takes. No matter what happens, Sanae _will_ be victorious, and we _will_ hold out until she is. No matter how numerous the enemy, no matter how long it takes. _We. Will. HOLD!_ "

Cheers from all around, and then, as the cheers died down, Kanako said one more thing.

"Ready yourselves. The enemy approaches."

* * *

 **And here we are. Everything's set for the climax. So, yeah, the next chapter is the last. I hope I'll see you there.**


	12. Chapter 11: Defiance

**Chapter 11  
** _Defiance_

"I don't like this place," Tilea said. "Why are we here?"

"We're here because we have to be," Liri said. "Luna's going to do something to get us to where we need to go, but the Sanzu River is the only place it'll work."

"I hope it doesn't take long."

"Not long at all," Luna said, "but we will have to cross over the river. Our destination is the halfway point; once we get there, what I need to do will take no time at all."

"The crossing may be dangerous," Liri said, "so stay close to us, all right?"

"Sure," Tilea said. "I'll stay right next to you."

"Good." Liri turned to Luna. "Okay, we're ready."

"Good. Stay close to me. We begin in 3... 2... 1... go!"

* * *

Kanako, standing next to Suwako within the kappa's makeshift command center, examined the information displayed on the main screen. "Looks like they're approaching from all around, as expected."

"Yes," Nerika said. "Enemy positions, numbers, and rate of approach are all within predictions."

Kanako supposed recruiting the kappa Hikari and her team to run the command center for a battle could be considered an odd choice. After all, Hikari and her people were in charge of operations at the Underground Nuclear Plant; their expertise did not lie in combat operations. In fact, Sanae has said as much when Kanako'd made the decision.

"They're familiar with the equipment," Kanako had said, "they're running a command center just like they do at the Underground Nuclear Plant, and they've trained for intense, high-pressure situations."

"Like a meltdown," Sanae'd said. "I thought that was a non-issue with the reactor under Utsuho's direct control."

"True, but all sorts of things can go wrong. And while Utsuho could almost certainly keep the reaction contained, that doesn't mean it's not a big deal if something ever happens. And it doesn't matter that Hikari's team isn't military, because they're not leading the battle; Suwako and I are. And while Hikari and her team may not be the truly perfect choice for the job, they're by far the best we have available. And since the plant will be on minimum with Utsuho elsewhere, they're free for this purpose."

Now, Kanako activated her communicator, connecting to her commanders. "The enemy is approaching as expected. Prepare to engage according to existing instructions."

* * *

"You know," Reisen said after receiving Kanako's message, "I'm surprised you're here. I expected you to stay at Eientei."

"Eientei'll be fine," Tewi said. We're not the main target, and the rabbits are all well-trained. You moon people know your stuff, that's for sure. No, right here is where things are going to be difficult. This village needs some good luck a lot more than we do."

"True," Reisen said. Then she spoke to her unit, made up of the rabbits Eientei'd been able to spare. "All right, you have your orders! Take your assigned positions and open fire on my command!"

* * *

Liri dodged to the side as a... _thing_ leapt out of the river at her. Another monster rose from the water in front of the trio, but Luna took care of that one, hitting it with a massive blast that blew a hole in the thing.

Some lesser spirits rose from the water and went for Tilea, but they were weak enough that she was able to blast them away. A larger one followed their attack, but while she couldn't send it flying, her blast was enough to knock it out of her way. But it was still there, and it chased after her as she passed. "Oh, crap! Liri, it's after me!"

Liri dropped in behind Tilea, spun around, and hit it with a blast of her own. But even though she knocked it back a ways, it kept up its pursuit, and as a spirit of the Sanzu it couldn't actually be killed or otherwise destroyed, as it had no life and its existence was linked to the Sanzu. In fact, none of the... _things_ inhabiting the river were actually alive. Or dead. They were trapped, stuck in a state between life and death, and as such couldn't be killed.

Except by Luna, whose power over cycles enabled her to pull them loose, cutting them free from the river's trap, and send them to oblivion.

Liri knocked the greater spirit back again, but again it continued its pursuit, and then another rose from the river to join it. "Luna!"

Luna's attention stayed forward. "Almost there!"

 _Guess we'll have to handle these on our own, then._ "Tilea, keep the small ones away; I'll deal with the big ones."

"Okay!" Tilea said. And they did. Whenever the lesser spirits approached, Tilea was able to knock them back, and Liri kept the larger spirits at bay. And then...

"Now!" Luna said.

Liri spun around just in time to see Luna do... something. Liri couldn't tell what it was, but Luna had done... _something_ to a point just ahead of them. Luna flew directly into it, followed by Liri and Tilea, and then...

And then they were... somewhere. Or maybe nowhere. It certainly _looked_ like nowhere. Or... maybe it didn't; Liri wasn't sure what she was seeing. Or if she was even seeing anything.

Tilea wrapped her arms around Liri's waist. "Liri, I don't like it here. This place is _wrong_."

"Technically," Luna said, "it's not actually a 'place'. We're between worlds right now, in the space between Gensokyo and the outside world. In a sense, we're within the Hakurei Barrier, though that's not _completely_ accurate. Close enough, though. But we're not just between worlds; we're also _outside_ them. Which, critically, means we're also outside their cycles. And that is what will enable us to strike at the cycle of stories. The cycle's influence passes from the outside world into Gensokyo; from between and outside of the two worlds and their cycles, we will be able to find this connection and sever it."

"...I don't get it," Tilea said.

"Basically, we're cutting off a connection between Gensokyo and the outside world. They won't be severed completely, as the Hakurei Shrine, which exists on both sides of the border, acts as an anchor, keeping the worlds from drifting apart. What will be severed is the primary conduit through which the outside world influences Gensokyo. Without that conduit, the cycle of stories from their world will be unable to affect Gensokyo."

"...I still don't get it."

"We're breaking a link that makes bad things happen in Gensokyo," Liri said.

"Oh."

"Indeed," Luna said. "The link is this way. Follow me."

* * *

The destination was at the foot of the Youkai Mountain, on the other side from the Scarlet Devil Mansion. And as soon as Sanae's group arrives they could all tell it was the right place.

"The energy here is... significant," Alice said as the group landed. "And it's active, too." Then, "Wait. It... something's happening."

Something was indeed happening, and they all saw it. Some sort of shimmering, and then some manner of shadowy energy gathered around the shimmering space. And then, suddenly, it burst outward, revealing a dark-looking figure that slowly lowered to the ground.

"You've come," the woman said.

 _The last seal fails the second we arrive,_ Sanae thought. _Of course._ "Mephilia, I presume."

"Oh?" Mephilia looked as Sanae specifically. "You seem to lead this group, and... interesting. I sense the divine within you, but it is not yet fully awakened. A divinely-born human, primed to ascend. Most interesting. Not that it matters, really. After all, I'm certain your presence here is not as a welcoming party."

"You mean to bring an end to Gensokyo," Sanae said, "and we're not about to let that happen."

"There is nothing," Mephilia said, "you can do to stop it."

The sky overhead began to darken, the darkness radiating outward from Mephilia. But then Utsuho raised her Third Leg into the air, a beam of light piercing and dispelling Mephilia's darkness.

"Well," Mephilia said. "Interesting. You are... more capable than I expected. Not that it will change anything."

"We won't let you win," Sanae said.

Mephilia laughed. "There is nothing you can do to stop me. But clearly you mean to try anyways. Very well, then." She held out her arm, and a sword formed from darkness in her hand. "Let us begin."

* * *

It was time.

"Enemy is approaching engagement range," Hikari said. "Five... four... three... two... one... mark!"

Kanako activated her communicator. "Engage!"

...

The tengu struck first, attacking the army of Twisted from above. The melee specialists dove right into the enemy, engaging on the ground. Some Twisted rose into the air, and other tengu remained airborne to engage those.

"It's time," Reisen said. "All units, open fire!"

...

With unaided magic, avoiding friendly fire was a relatively simple matter, as one could just direct one's magic around allies. With magic weapons, however, this wasn't an option. Focusing one's power into a weapon rather than using it one'sself provided greater power, efficiency, and depending on the weapon precision, but at the cost of direct control after firing. Normally, one could maintain control of a magic attack after use, but that connection was lost when the energy was channeled into a weapon. Thus, directing it around allies was no longer possible, and simply not shooting towards an ally was, in the intensity of battle, far more easily said than done. The kappa's command systems could detect if an attack was likely to hit an ally and warn the user accordingly, but there were nowhere near enough of these to go around for a large-scale battle such as this, and their effectiveness would be severely degraded in the chaos anyways.

Fortunately, however, the Twisted were not alive, and their unique lack of life was easily identified by even the simplest targeting systems. As such, as the kappa and the rabbits opened fire, they knew they could be sure they wouldn't hit an ally, as the weapon would warn them if they would (although this could, if necessary, be overridden).

The combination of the kappa's fire and the tengu was very effective, but it wasn't enough to hold the Twisted back. Fortunately, it wasn't all they had. Many of the kappa were armed with long-range weaponry, but others were equipped for close-range combat, and as they Twisted approached, those kappa advanced to meet them.

...

"Okay, people," Enkara said to the gathered oni, the ones the underground had felt able to spare, "here they come. Our job is to keep the Twisted out of the village, so spread out around the perimeter and take out any that get close. Don't worry if one or two get past, though; the village's hunters are set up as a final defense. So if one or two get past, let the hunters handle them and focus instead on making sure more don't get through."

As the oni spread out around the edge of the village, Enkara turned to the one who stayed with her. "As for you, Suika: go step on things."

"With pleasure!" Suika said.

...

Tewi spun around and struck a Twisted with her oversized mallet, her momentum adding enough force to the hit to send it flying through several others and knocking them down. A pair of kappa, both wielding double swords, moved in and cut through the fallen Twisted as Tewi turned to her next target.

Reisen and the other rabbits were back with the kappa gunners, but Tewi'd always preferred to get in close. And she wasn't the greatest shot, anyways; she was much more useful in the thick of it. Reisen, on the other hand, was an excellent shot, and many of the other rabbits were good shots as well. And they all knew what they were doing. For all the crap she gave them sometimes, Tewi had to admit those moon people knew how to train good soldiers.

A Twisted came at Tewi from the side, but she batted it away with her mallet. Another dove at her from above, but as it came in, Tewi leapt over it, smashing its head (or what would have been the head on a normal creature, at least) in. One came straight at her as she landed, but this time she didn't even have to do anything; the creature was crushed before it even reached her as a giant Suika stomped her way towards the enemy hordes.

...

It was, of course, inevitable that some Twisted would push through the defending force, especially with the single-minded way they advanced regardless of casualties. Most didn't make it that far, but a significant amount did get past the kaapa and tengu assaults and the kappa's firing lines to approach the village. But that was what the oni were for, and it wasn't just the oni, either.

Many assorted youkai had volunteered to aid in the battle, and rather than force them into existing kappa or tengu units and potentially throwing off those units' cohesion, these youkai made up the final line along with the oni. Their job was to keep the Twisted out of the village, and as the first Twisted approached them, they sprang into action.

One of them came straight for Enkara. Enkara ducked around its strike, grabbed it by the arm, spun it around, and threw it as hard as she could – which, her being an oni, was pretty far. The creature landed outside of the firing line, and went down from the kappa's fire. Another came at Enkara, and after avoiding its attack, she jumped up and slammed her fists into its head from above. The creature collapsed to the ground, and Enkara picked it up and slammed it down again, then again, and then once more to finish it off.

...

"It looks like things are going well," Suwako said.

"For now, yes," Kanako said. "The issue is the enemy's replenishing numbers. We're holding them off for now, but as the battle continues, our forces will tire and theirs won't. Not to mention the fact that as we lose people, we can't replace them. We can't hold out forever."

"Yeah, but we don't have to. We just need to hold long enough for Sanae to get her job done."

* * *

[BGM: /watch?v=9YoDuIZa8tE]

Sanae ducked under a blast and returned fire. Mephilia easily blocked the attack with a barrier, but then Yuugi came up from the side and punched her, sending her flying into the side of the mountain. She recovered quickly, but then Alraune was there, hitting her with a strong blast at close range. The hit knocked Mephilia back, but Mephilia quickly retaliated, sending a storm of beams into the air that came crashing down around the area, forcing the team into evasive action.

There were Twited present, to, but those were being kept at bay by Alice and her dolls. Satori fell back next to Alice, and the magician briefly glanced over to see her staggering. "Satori? Are you okay?"

"I... I'm okay. It's..."

"Right," Alice said, "mind-reading. It's the Twisted, isn't it?"

"No," Satori said. "They have no minds. It's Mephilia. Her mind is... _wrong_. It's wrong, and I try to shut it out, but... I can't _not_ see into people's minds, and hers is... difficult to deal with."

"I see. Don't be afraid to fall back if you need to; remaining in battle is foolish if you're unable to fight."

"I'm okay. It's... easier to manage at a little more of a distance. And I'm not strong enough to help against her, anyways; I came solely as a chaperon of sorts for Utsuho. I'll do much better with you, keeping the Twisted back."

"A sound plan," Alice said, "and I welcome the aid."

Mephilia took to the air, attacking from above. Nue and Mamizou struck from above her with coordinated fire, but she evaded or blocked most of the shots and those that hit had little effect. And then Utsuho let loose with a massive beam from directly over her, blasting her back downwards. She recovered quickly, but then Alraune was on her, sending a barrage her way. Mephilia retaliated with a blast of her own, forcing Alraune to evade, but the plant youkai's attacks were replaced by Mokou's flames.

Mephilia dashed through the flames and struck at Mokou with her sword, but Sanae dove in front of Mokou. The spiritual energy within Sanae's gohei made it far stronger than its wood construction would suggest, and she used it to block Mephilia's strike. And then Akora dove in from the side, her talons slashing into Mephilia's skin.

Satori's third eye enabled her to read and reproduce the abilities of another, and she was using this ability now, controlling phantom dolls as Alice controlled her real ones. Satori was weaker than Alice, and couldn't match the numbers the magician could handle, but what she could manage was still a significant aid, and between the two of them, she and Alice were able to keep the Twisted occupied, allowing the others to focus on Mephilia.

A blast from Mephilia flung Yuugi into the side of the mountain, but the oni was quick to recover. Alraune moved in and opened fire, supported by Nue and Mamizou. Mephilia evaded and returned fire, forcing them onto the evasive, but then Utsuho once again hit her from above with a massive blast. Then Yuugi slammed into her from the side, grabbed her, then leapt into the air and threw her into the ground.

Mephilia lay on the ground for a moment, and the team gathered around Sanae. "Did we win?" Utsuho asked.

"No," Sanae said, and then Mephilia's body seemed to... crack, almost. The cracks formed all over her, a strange darkness seeming to shine through them. "That was only the first round."

And then Mephilia's body burst.

[end BGM]

* * *

"We're here," Luna said. Though saying so was unnecessary; they could all feel it. And even if they couldn't have felt it, they still would've known, because they could _see_ it. Such a thing shouldn't have been visible, but it was.

Liri had no idea how to describe the place they were in, if in fact it even truly was a 'place'. This strange space, outside of and between worlds, it didn't seem to truly _be_ anything. She couldn't think of a single thing it actually _was_ , only what it _wasn't_. It wasn't dark or light, wasn't large or small, wasn't... wasn't _anything_ , really. And in this place of nothingness, even that which could not be seen could been seen, simply by virtue of being _something_. In this case, what they saw was a strange sort of shimmering effect, a pillar of... something, which seemed not to have a beginning or an end. In actuality, though, it was simply that its ends were connected to actual existence, and thus not perceptible from in between.

"This is... what we're here for?" Tilea said. "It feels... strange."

"I would expect so," Liri said. "Luna, just to confirm, this _is_ the link, right?"

"Indeed it is," Luna said.

"Then I'll get to work." Liri positioned herself near the energy link and began the task of constructing her barrier. It would have been easier to construct the barrier's two components outside of the stream, but then moving them into it would've exposed them unevenly and damaged them as they interrupted the stream. By constructing them within the stream, she avoided that; since they were already within it and constructed such that each part would allow the stream to flow around it, there would be no interruption until the two pieces were joined.

Though constructing the barrier within the stream was more difficult, it was a fairly basic barrier, and its structure, though critical, wasn't particularly complex, and it wasn't too long before Lyra spoke. "All right, the first part's finished."

"I'll hold it in place, then," Luna said.

"Actually, let's have Tilea do that. It does need to be held in place, but like a stick in a stream, doing so takes little strength, so even she won't have any trouble.. And when the two pieces are joined, I'll be the one dealing with the force, so it won't matter then. No, I want you standing by in case something goes wrong. I doubt it will, but if it does, you'll need to block the flow with brute force as you originally planned. True, that may cause damage, but not nearly as much as a failure would."

"Well, you're the expert, so I'll take your advice."

"Then I guess I'm up," Tilea said. "Just hold your thing in place, right?"

Liri nodded. "It doesn't have to stay completely still, but I do need it to stay basically where it is for a while."

"'And then we put them together?"

"Not until the proper moment," Luna said, "when the link is at its most vulnerable."

"Just keep hold of your piece until it's time," Liri said.

"'Kay!" Tilea took hold of the first component of the barrier, and Liri set to work crafting the second. And, again, it wasn't too long before she was done.

"Okay," Liri said, "it's ready."

"Good," Luna said. "Now, we wait."

...

When the smoke cleared, Sanae's first thought was that the being before them was floating about a foot off the ground. _Of course Mephilia's new form is floating. They always float._

The form before them was much different than Mephilia's previous form. For one, it was much larger, several times her previous size. Her upper half was still humanoid, though also quite inhuman. The proportions were all wrong, especially in her elongated arms, which ended in too-large hands with long, clawed fingers. Her face was wrong, too, with its too-wide mouth. Her form didn't seem to be wearing anything, though parts of her skin were covered by a black... something. If it _had_ been clothing, it would have been considered very revealing clothing. In particular, her oversized breasts were almost completely exposed, though the nipples (assuming she had those) and the area around them were covered. Below the torso, she was far more monstrous, a writhing mass of darkness and tentacles from which her upper half emerged.

"Better than I expected," Mephilia said, and it was no surprise to Sanae that her voice now had a deep and echo-y sound to it, as this was quite common in the stories. "Not that it matters. You have yet to experience my true power."

Again the darkness emanated from her, but again Utsuho's light pierced through it. But this time there was also a much more malicious aura, one that caused plants to wither and die as it expanded. Alraune focused her power through the plants, pushing back against this aura, but she could barely hold it back.

And then, suddenly, more power was added, crashing into and shattering the aura.

[BGM: /watch?v=9vbsI9xFuo8]

"Well, well, well," Yuuka said, walking in from the side as Mephilia turned to face her. "It would seem you've gone a bit too far now. Bringing death to everything around you. And we can't have that, now, can we?"

As always when she saw Yuuka, Alraune did a quick evaluation of the flower youkai's mental state. And this time, Yuuka seemed not to be completely stable. But Alraune still judged her not to be a risk, as she seemed to still be in control. And though she was clearly in an aggressive state, her aggression was focused entirely on Mephilia.

"You," Mephilia said, "you are strong. But it will not make a difference. You cannot hope to defeat me, cannot hope to stop your inevitable end."

"You're wrong," Sanae said. "You mean to bring about Gensokyo's end, but it won't happen. We will stop you here!"

"You will fail," Mephilia said, "but you are certainly welcome to try. Come, then! If you desire to die fighting, than I shall grant you the end you seek!"

...

Sirena saw, for the second time now, the spreading darkness off in the distance, over by the Youkai Mountain, and knew what it had to be. She was aware of the plan, aware that while the mountain gods led a defense of the village and Liri struck against the cycle of stories, Sanae led an attack on Mephilia.

She wasn't willing to do nothing. She made that decision right then, though perhaps she'd always known she would make it. She never was the type to stand idly by; after all, her entire purpose was centered on taking action. And while her previous actions had led to nothing, she was still able to take action now.

It was too late for any other course of action; the only option was to hope Liri was right about this whole 'cycle of stories' thing. And as such, the only way to act was in support of the plan. And, really, there was only one way to do that.

Sirena got to her feet. She couldn't aid Liri – even if she'd been able to follow the magician to... wherever she was, Sirena lacked any skills to contribute to her objective – and she couldn't do much in the village – she'd just be one more in an army, and a single person wouldn't make a difference either way – which left only one thing. Because though she wouldn't make a difference in a large-scale battle, she could in a smaller-scale encounter.

Sirena made her choice. She would not stand by, not while there was still something she could do. And so she made her way towards the mountain, knowing, even as the darkness was again dispelled, that if she was to make a difference, that was where it would be.

...

Alraune dodged around a blast from Mephilia and closed the distance, producing multiple seeds and throwing them at Mephilia. As they made contact, vines erupted from the seeds, growing in moments and wrapping themselves around Mephilia, ensnaring her.

Mephilia laughed, breaking free of the vines as she turned to face Alraune. "Surely you didn't expect that to work."

And then Yuugi came in from the side and punched Mephilia into the mountain.

"I don't know," Alraune said. "Looked like it worked to me."

Mephilia quickly recovered, launching a series of blasts. Alraune fell back as she evaded, but Yuugi moved in. She took a couple hits as she moved in, but pushed through them to attack, only for one of Mephilia's tentacles to wrap around her and throw her away.

Nue and Mamizou continued their assault from above. Mephilia's new form seemed to not be particularly mobile, and as such she was no longer able to evade oncoming fire as she had before. But this didn't really seem to matter, as she blocked much of it with barriers, and what did hit her seemed to have minimal effect.

As Mephilia returned fire at Nue and Mephilia, Yuuka struck with a massive blast, a non-danmaku equivalent of the Master Spark. This seemed to have a bit more of an effect, but it wasn't enough to knock Mephilia off-balance, and Mephilia returned fire with shots that curved around Yuuka's attack and came at her from all sides, forcing her to drop her attack in order to evade.

Shortly after Yuuka's attack ceased, Utsuho struck with a similarly-massive beam. Mephilia focused forward and matched Utsuho's attack with a beam of her own. Mephilia's beam quickly overpowered Utsuho's, striking the raven and sending her crashing to the ground.

Utsuho hit right next to a pair of Twisted that moved to attack her, but they were quickly cut apart by Satori's phantasmal dolls as the youkai ran over to her pet. "Utsuho!"

"I'm okay," Utsuho said as she got to her feet. "I thought that would work."

"I know you're used to overpowering your opponents, but that won't work here."

"But weaker attacks aren't working either."

Yuuka was having a similar thought. She watched as Alraune flew low in an attempt to avoid Mephilia's latest barrage, but an arcing shot struck her from above and knocked her into the ground, though she was able to get clear of the remaining fire.

Yuuka came up beside Alraune. "We are fighting a losing battle, attacking her this way. We need something stronger."

"Yeah," Alraune said, "but what? I mean, I don't think you were pulling any punches with your spark, but even that didn't do much."

"This opponent is too powerful for us to overcome, even when fighting as a team. Not a one of us can hit her with anything strong enough to overcome her power. Not alone."

"Then... a combined attack."

"Correct," Yuuka said. "You and I are both plant youkai; our energies are compatible. We can mix them without ill effects."

"Channel everything we have into a single attack. Sounds like a plan."

Mokou weaved through Mephilia's barrage and hit her right in the face with a close-range blast of flame, but again, the effect was minimal. Mephila swung her arm around, slashing through Mokou with her claws as she knocked the woman away.

Mokou landed next to Sanae and got to her feet, but then staggered and almost fell again. "What the hell? Gashes like those should heal right away!"

"Mephilia can kill fairies and other immortal beings," Sanae said. "Didn't Keine tell you that?"

"Well, she did, but killing fairies is much different from overcoming the Hourai Elixir. I guess I didn't think it meant me, too. Thought I'd be healed already."

"I can handle that." Sanae focused her power on Mokou, restoring the immortal's wounds with a miracle of healing. "There."

"Nice. Is that why you've been mostly hanging back, so you can keep us going?"

Sanae nodded. "I'm not as strong in a fight as any of you, but I can certainly do that much."

Yuugi once again moved in, but again was unable to get in and land a hit before being grabbed and thrown by one of Mephilia's tentacles. Akora, however, had better results. The eagle youkai carefully timed her attack, diving down an an extremely high speed and raking her talons across Mephilia's upper body before pulling up and away.

"I don't think any of us are doing much," Mokou said. "Nothing seems to even phase her."

"I think physical attacks are working better," Sanae said.

"Maybe, but it's almost impossible to get in close enough without getting knocked away."

"Akora seems to be doing fine. Precision and timing are important, and as a hunter she's very capable at both, and her speed lets her get in and out fast."

"Maybe, but I doubt that's going to be enough to win."

It was simple enough for two or more people to do a combined attack, but Alraune and Yuuka were doing something more than that. As they were both plant youkai, their energies were compatible enough to be combined _before_ being channeled into an attack, which was much more effective. And they were putting everything they had into it, too, but this meant they would only get one shot.

Satori saw what the two plant youkai were doing. _Smart, but we should have something ready in case it doesn't work._ She turned to her pet. "Okuu, stay with me. See those two? They're plant youkai. Don't do it yet, but when I tell you to, feed your solar energy into them. Until then, help me deal with the Twisted. Okay?"

"Got it!" Utsuho said.

Nue and Mamizou, too, noticed Yuuka and Alraune. "I think they're charging up for something big," Mamizou said.

Nue nodded. "Looks like it. And they're both very powerful youkai, too, so it'll hurt. But they'll only have one shot."

"Then let's make sure they get it."

Nue and Mamizou moved in, launching coordinated attacks on Mephilia and avoiding her return fire. Their attacks weren't any more effective than before, but they did succeed at drawing Mephilia's attention. Yuugi attempted to take advantage of this distraction and more in for a hit, but Mephilia noticed her approach just in time to blast her away. Nue and Mamizou, however, continued their attack, and by the time Mephilia finally noticed Yuuka and Alraune, it was too late.

The two plant youkai cried out in unison. "FLORAL SPAAAAAARK!"

The beam was massive, formed from the combined energies of two of Gensokyo's most powerful youkai. But even so, Mephilia countered with a beam of her own, and hers actually halted Yuuka and Alraune's, and then started gaining against it, the force of the clashing beams keeping everyone else back.

"Damn it," Alraune said, "it's not working!"

"Okuu," Satori said, "now!"

Utsuho couldn't directly combine her energy with Yuuka and Alraune's the way the two plant youkai had done with each other. She couldn't even add her power to their attack the normal way, as it wasn't a normal cooperative attack; the two had mixed their energies into a single source before feeding into the attack, and as such trying to add to it from outside would disrupt and actually weaken it. But what she _could_ do was to strengthen the two plant youkai themselves. Because they were in fact plant youkai, her solar energy was a perfect compliment to them, and by focusing it into them she was able to empower them, which in turn greatly strengthened their attack. The newly strengthened beam broke through its opposition and hit Mephilia dead-on, its full force slamming into her until Yuuka and Alraune were spent and their attack ceased.

Mephilia's form fell to the ground, motionless, and once again cracks began to form all over her. But this time the glow from them was much more intense, and only kept getting brighter.

Sanae quickly realized what was happening. "Everyone, behind me!"

The team gathered behind Sanae, who called upon her power to perform a miracle of protection, her barrier going up just in time.

Mephilia exploded, the energy racing outward in all directions. It slammed into Sanae's barrier, and even with those still able adding their power to it, it barely withstood the force, and Sanae could _feel_ it failing.

And then it happened.

Sanae immediately knew what it was. As predicted, her ascension had come. As was often the case in the stories, she'd gained new power at a critical moment. She was no longer human; her divinity had fully awakened. And with it came a strengthening of her power, enabling her to hold the barrier together.

But even that was only barely enough, and at the last moment, the barrier shattered.

[end BGM]

* * *

"Now!" Luna said.

"Right," Liri said. "Brace yourself, Tilea!"

Liri took the two halves of her barrier and slammed them together. The barrier was immediately hit by the full force of the link's energies, no longer able to flow around it now that it was whole. But the barrier wasn't just blocking the flow. As Liri had described, it was redirecting the energy 'upward' (for lack of a better word), back towards its source. There was a fair amount of scatter, more than Liri'd predicted, but Luna was there to block it, ensuring that it wouldn't do any damage.

The barrier only lasted moments, but that was enough. There was a wave of force when it broke, but Luna was able to shield the three of them from it.

For a few seconds there was silence, and then Liri spoke. "It's done. The link is severed."

* * *

[BGM: /watch?v=mFhM1ayTsqE]

"Unit down!" Noriko said. "Hole in the final perimeter at point E6!"

 _Not good,_ Kanako thought. "What got through?"

"Just two twisted, nothing the hunters can't handle."

 _Fortunate, but we'll need to plug the hole or else more will get through._ "Who's in position to move in and fill the gap?"

"We're barely holding on as it is," Hikari said. "I don't think we can spare anyone."

"Well, we'd better," Noriko said, "because more Twisted have broken through and are heading right for the opening."

This was it, then, Kanako knew. What Sanae had feared. Because if nobody else could fill in the gap, there was only one choice. She'd have to do it herself. But as she was about to say so, Suwako held up a hand. "No, Kanako. Let me handle this."

"Suwako," Kanako said, "are you sure?"

"Of course I am." Then, "Come on, Kanako, you know I have no intention of dying. Even if these things can kill us, gods don't go down easily. And while you may be the better military leader, _I'm_ better in a fight, and you know it. I know what the stories say will happen, but I'm not about to let myself die here. And you know that, too."

And indeed Kanako did. "Then go. But... be careful."

"Of course!" Suwako said. And then she was gone.

...

Enkara saw one of the nearby oni go down, but she didn't have time to worry about that. 'Command' would find someone to fill the gap; Enkara's concern right now had to be on the twisted coming at her. There were three of them, and she met them head-on, charging in and grabbing one, then using it to knock down the other two. Then she slammed it into the ground, then again, then a third time, and then tossed it into the other two before its dead body vanished. Those two, who had recovered by then, were again knocked down. Enkara ran in, grabbed them both by the head, lifting them and slamming them back down over and over until they were dead.

...

"Unit Gamma," Reisen said into her comm, "adjust position three degrees clockwise! The kappa gunners are thin there and the Twisted are making a push; keep them back!"

"Roger!" came the reply, and so Reisen returned to her weapon, a high-powered precision weapon that was the magical equivalent of what the outside world called a 'sniper rifle', though much more effective than any such weapon without magic could be.

 _Right, Gamma's position is secure enough from the kappa that they don't need to be replaced, but I need Beta where they are to handle any overflow, so I can't move them to reinforce Alpha's losses._ Fortunately, she was close by to reinforce Alpha herself, and so she moved into position and readied her weapon.

Reisen aimed carefully but quickly, firing as soon as she had a target in her sights. The high-power weapon was draining, but it was effective; though it generally wasn't enough to take out an undamaged Twisted in one shot, it knocked them back and did enough to weaken it, allowing the squad's less-powerful shots to easily finish it off. So whenever she hit one target, she then moved quickly to the next.

...

"Kappa squadron at C2 reporting heavy casualties!" Noriko said. "They're requesting assistance!"

"We don't have any to send them," Kanako said. "They'll have to hold on their own."

"Right."

 _This isn't looking good,_ Kanako thought. _We're barely holding on; I don't think we can continue for much longer._

"Um..." Kerai said, "Hikari? I'm sending data to your screen; can you double-check it for me? See if you're seeing the same thing I am?"

"Yes." Hikari quickly looked over the data. "I think I am. Kanako, unless both Kerai and I are misreading this in the same way, I... I think we've hit turnover."

That got Kanako's attention immediately. "You're certain?"

"I'm checking the data now, too," Nerika said, "and I'm seeing the same thing. I believe we've indeed hit turnover."

Kanako was silent for a moment. If they'd hit turnover, then... had Sanae won? They'd expected the Twisted to disappear upon Mephilia's defeat, but they'd known it was possible that new ones would stop appearing but those already formed would remain. And if that was happening, then... _Then we may have a chance after all._

"Shit!" Noriko exclaimed. "Kanako, another rearguard's down! A large number of Twisted are entering the village at point E13!"

And, of course, there was nobody else available to respond. But, fortunately, point E13 was fairly close to the command center. _Looks like I'll have to enter the fight myself after all._ But like Suwako, Kanako had no intention of dying. "Hikari, you're in command."

"Wait," Hikari said, "I'm not-"

"I'll return quickly," Kanako said, "and you're perfectly capable of handling it until I'm back."

"But there's too many of them, and they can actually kill gods. You'll-"

"I don't intend to die today, either." And then, before Hikari could object again, she exited the command center and headed for the oncoming enemy.

...

Nitori heard all of it. _Kanako's going out there alone? To face an enemy that's actually capable of killing her?_

It was happening again. She'd left Liora to fight by herself, and Liora'd died because of it. And now the goddess Kanako Yasaka herself was going to her death?

No. Nitori wasn't going to let that happen again.

"Takeri," Nitori said, "you handle monitoring the camo systems."

"Wait," Takeri said, "what're you-"

"Just do it! You can handle that much."

"Yeah, but-"

"There's something I have to do," Nitori said. And then she ran out, leaving Takeri by herself.

 _Damn it, Nitori,_ Takeri thought as she turned back to the monitors, _what the hell are you doing now?_

...

There were indeed quite a few of them.

Kanako immediately took the offensive, calling upon a strong gust of wind that blew many of them over. Then she called upon her onbashira pillars, slamming them down onto fallen Twisted.

Other Twisted moved in, and though it would have been safer to engage them at a distance, pulling back to keep the range open would only let them farther into the village. Which was unacceptable, and so instead Kanako dove right in, striking with blades of wind in addition her her pillars.

The Twisted pressed the attack, but Kanako didn't let up. The area quickly became chaotic as Kanako used gusts of wind to toss Twisted around, cut through them with blades of wind, and crushed them with her pillars, all while weaving through their own attacks. But her efforts weren't perfect, and there were enough of them that taking hits was inevitable. One Twisted cut across her chest with a bladed arm, and another ran its claws across her back.

Kanako pulled away from the group and assessed the situation. This wasn't the first time she'd sustained injuries to her form, of course, but these felt... different. Unlike humans and youkai, a god's existence wasn't tied to its physical form. They could be harmed through their forms, yes, and even killed if their faith was low enough, but that wasn't what this was. This was something different, the Twisted somehow striking at _her_ rather than just her form. And it hurt. _I wonder if this is what pain feels like for humans and youkai. Right, I'll have to be careful here, but I can't just keep the range open or I'll be letting them further into the village. I think my best bet is to-_

Kanako's thoughts were cut off as a barrage of missiles flew overhead and impacted the Twisted. Then a kappa, one Kanako recognized, ran past her, bombarding the Twisted with bombs.

"Nitori?" Kanako said. "What are you-"

"Get out of here!" Nitori said. "I'll handle this!"

"I certainly welcome your aid, but there are too many for you to face alone."

Nitori looked back at Kanako. "I don't care! I've already gotten one person killed; I'm not about to leave you to die, too!"

"If we fight together, neither of us will-"

"Don't be stupid! These things are going to kill you!"

"And how do you plan to fight them all by yourself?"

Nitori didn't answer, but that was answer enough; her silence told Kanako what she intended.

Kanako wanted to argue, but there was no point. As a god, she was quite familiar with fanaticism, and she saw it now in Nitori. Saw it in her eyes, and felt it in her emotions. But this wasn't quite was she was familiar with, the obsessive devotion to a god beyond all reason. This was something different, she could tell, something... personal. But it didn't really matter. Nitori was set on her course of action, and there was no talking her out of it.

And so Kanako left Nitori to her own devices. An observer might have been surprised by her willingness to leave Nitori to her death, but she was used to it. This wasn't the first time Kanako had seen someone needlessly sacrifice herself, and it wouldn't be the last.

Such a thing came with being a god.

...

Nitori charged into the middle of the Twisted, firing on them all the way. As she closed in, her pack deployed swords, as well as the framework around her arms to help guide her actions. She was reckless, attacking with no concern for her own safety, launching missiles and throwing bombs around all while remaining in the middle of the fray.

Her reckless approach cost her, as she sustained one wound after another, but that was okay. She'd known she couldn't take on a group this large and survive. But because she wouldn't, Kanako would. She may have gotten Liora killed, but she wasn't about to let that happen again. Even if meant taking Kanako's place.

Nitori took a serious gash across her leg, and she fell down to all fours. _This is it, then._ [ _Activate self-destruct protocol. Calibrate blast to destroy enemy with minimal collateral damage._ ]

 _ **Acknowledged,** _her system replied. _**Detontion in five...**_

A Twisted ran its bladed arm across Nitori's back.

 _ **Four...**_

Another one slammed its hammer-like hind into her back, knocking her all the way down to the ground.

 _ **Three...**_

One slashed through her bask with its claws.

 _ **Two...**_

The Twisted were gathered around her.

 _ **One...**_

 _ **Zero.**_

...

Kanako heard the explosion. _She did it, then. Gave her life senselessly._ But she'd seen that before, and she would see it again, so she paid it little mind as she reentered the command center. "What's our status?"

"Lady Kanako," Hikari said, "you're back."

"I am. Report."

"We've definitely hit turnover; enemy numbers are dropping. No further holes in the final perimeter. A couple Twisted did slip past, but the hunters took care of them. The main line's suffering, though. We may have difficulties holding the Twisted back."

"We'll adapt as needed," Kanako said. "This is almost over; we will _not_ fail now."

[end BGM]

* * *

Sanae felt... strange. Stronger, yes, but somehow also weaker at the same time. She realized what it was, though, as while she was indeed stronger now that her divinity had fully awakened, it also meant she was dependent on faith, and as a new god, she had little of that. Her leadership had garnered faith from the tengu and kappa, but she couldn't properly receive it as a human, so only a small about had remained, though she was currently getting some from them as well as the villagers. But she still had little, and what she did have she'd used protecting herself and her allies.

She took stock of the situation. Everyone was, to no surprise, exhausted. It had been a draining battle, especially for Yuuka, Alraune, and Utsuho, who'd put everything they had into that one final blast. And the others has used the last of their energy on that final barrier. Between that and the last blast as the barrier failed in the final instant, everyone else was completely spent. Sanae herself was barely standing, and even that was only because of her newly-awakened divine nature. But it didn't matter. Mephilia was destroyed, and the battle was over.

And then the smoke cleared, and Sanae saw that she was wrong.

Mephilia had reverted to her initial, human-like form, though she looked very much the worse for wear. She was beaten, battered, and some pieces of her body simply weren't there, showing instead some sort of black... something, almost like solidified darkness. And she'd clearly been significantly weakened, but even so, she was very much still alive.

"I didn't think this possible," Mephilia said. "But even so, it means nothing. I remain alive, and none of you are in any shape to finish me off. Once I finish you, I will simply wait until I've recovered."

 _So,_ Sanae thought, _this is how it will end._ Which wasn't quite a complete surprise. It wasn't all _that_ uncommon, after all, for there to be a final round. But there was more than that, as there were two other things Sanae knew, the first being that she was the only one in any shape to fight.

The second thing she knew was that if she did fight, she would die.

There wasn't anything she could do about that. It didn't matter if she won or lost; destroying Mephilia _would_ kill her. She was a god now, and both a god's power and its existence came from faith. If she fought Mephilia, she would use the last of her power, the last of her faith, and as such would cease to exist. She could win, she was certain of that, but only at the cost of her own life. But there wasn't any choice.

There were many stories, Sanae knew, where triumph could only be achieved through sacrifice, where someone had to give his or her life in order to find victory. And this, now, was one of them. But... _At least me dying makes it more likely that Kanako and Suwako will survive._

And so Sanae stepped forward. "No. I won't allow the threat you pose to continue."

"You have changed. Your divinity has awakened; I can sense it. But surely you know what this means? You are weak; your faith is low, and if you fight me you will exhaust it."

"It doesn't matter. I will bring an end to you here and now."

Mephilia laughed. "Come, then. But even if you _do_ emerge victorious, it will not matter. Darkness exists within all people, and so long as it does, I will always return."

And then there was a new voice. "No."

...

When she saw the massive explosion, Sirena'd thought the battle was over. But she'd continued anyways, and had arrived to see Sanae confronting an unfamiliar figure that could only be Mephilia. But Sanae had become a god, Sirena could tell, and she was weak; if she fought, she would expend the last of her faith and cease to exist.

Sirena approached from the side, and as Mephilia and Sanae were focused on each other, neither noticed her.

"Come, then. But even if you _do_ emerge victorious, it will not matter. Darkness exists within all people, and I am that darkness. So long as darkness remains in people's hearts, and it forever will, I will always return."

"No."

Sirena moved in between the pair, facing Mephilia. "You are not born of evil thoughts. You are an aberration, a product of a link between this world and the outside. A link that inflicts suffering and peril on Gensokyo for no better reason than to create a story. _That_ is what sustains you. But that link is being severed. You will no longer have it to ensure your existence. You _will_ meet your end today, by not Sanae's hand but my own."

"Who..." Sanae said, "who _are_ you?"

"This is my battle. There has been enough suffering, enough death. You need not sacrifice yourself; I will end this myself." Then, to Mephilia, "I, Sirena, shall be your opponent. And it is by my hand that you shall meet your end!"

"I will never end. No matter what happens, I will-"

Mephilia was cut off as she was struck by a blast from Sirena. "You won't. This ends now."

[BGM: /watch?v=E8pFzQ1lyF8]

Sirena charged forward, sword in hand. Mephilia ducked to the side as her own sword appeared in her hand and parried the attack. Sirena kept going, rising into the air as she spun around and fired a barrage of lasers. Mephila took to the air herself, the two rising further into the air as they exchanged fire.

Sirena weaved through Mephilia's fire and closed in, striking with her sword. Mephilia blocked the strike, then swung below Sirena and countered with a slash of her own. Sirena dodged to the side, then went in low. Mephilia parried the blow, only for Sirena to hit her square in the chest with a blast from point-blank range.

Mephilia pulled back, then deployed two nodes behind her as she charged back in. Each node fired a beam, but Sirena had no difficulty evading them. Then Mephilia came in with another slash. Sirena blocked the attack, then swung around over Mephilia as the nodes fired again, their beams crossing right where she'd been.

The nodes weren't an issue; thanks to her 'aura of perception', Sirena could see them no matter where they were, and adjusting position to avoid their beams was simple. But Mephilia pressed the attack, and though Sirena held her back, it was clear she had the advantage. Sirena seemed to have a slight edge in skill, but Mephilia was stronger, and her strikes came faster. It was a close fight, but Sirena knew she was losing.

Sirena pulled back, attacking with a swarm of lasers as she opened the distance. Mephilia evaded and countered with her own lasers, but Sirena dodged just as easily. Mephilia deployed nodes, sending them around to spray shots at Sirena from behind. Sirena sent a couple nodes of her own behind Mephilia, but she couldn't produce the same level of fire through them as Mephilia, nor could she sustain as many. But even so, it was clearly Mephilia who had the harder time navigating through her enemy's fire.

Mephilia had the advantage at close range, but outside of weapon range, it was clear to Sirena that it was she who had the edge. True, Mephilia had a greater level of power and could produce much denser and more dangerous fields of fire, but Sirena's ability to see in all directions at once was an immense aid. True, others could to an extent tell what was around them – success in danmaku was pretty much impossible without at least some level of such awareness – but Sirena's actual sight of it was a different matter entirely. With it, she maneuvered through the dense fire coming her way much more easily than Mephilia could make her way through Sirena's lesser volume of fire.

The situation was much like Sirena's fight with Liri, and this time she wasn't about to make the same mistake of letting her opponent get close. And, oddly enough, Mephilia wasn't being particularly aggressive in her attempts to do so. But even if Sirena could keep at a distance, Mephilia was the stronger of the two. Her fire, when it did make contact with Sirena, hit harder, and she could take a lot more than Sirena as well. Despite her edges, Sirena knew that her victory was in no way certain.

...

Sanae could only watch from the ground as the two did battle.

This 'Sirena' was fighting Sanae's battle for her, and she had no idea who the woman was. She'd never even seen Sirena before, and yet the woman was risking herself in Sanae's place. But why?

Sanae didn't know who Sirena was, but the woman was fighting her battle for her, and she had to just wait and watch. It was... unpleasant, watching someone else risk their life for her. But she supposed she'd have to get used to it. She was a god now, after all; there would likely be no shortage of followers choosing her over their own safety. Although she'd certainly try to minimize such things. Right now, though, she couldn't do anything about it. If she joined the battle herself, she would expend what little faith she had and die. She couldn't- no, there _was_ something she could do. Maybe she couldn't join the fight herself, but she could still give Sirena at least some aid.

Sanae'd given blessings before, but this time was different. Before, she'd been channeling a god's blessing, but now it was coming from her directly. Still, though, she knew very well how to do it. And so she did it, focusing her power into the desired effect and sending it to Sirena. It would have the effect of strengthening Sirena. That in itself wasn't something only gods could do, of course; the same effect could be achieved with enhancement magic. A divine blessing was much sturdier, yes, much more resistant to disruption, but that likely didn't matter here. But something else might.

Mephilia was a being of darkness, and in the stories the power of light was effective against darkness. And light, in those stories, was often the same as holiness. In reality, 'holiness' wasn't as definite a concept as it was in the stories, but Sanae figured there was a significant chance divine energy would be particularly effective against Mephilia. And even if it wasn't, maybe the physical boost would be enough on its own.

...

Sirena had never felt such an effect before, but it was obvious what it was. Clearly, Sanae was giving her assistance. It wasn't much – just what little Sanae could manage without exhausting her faith – but it could well be enough.

Sirena continued her maneuvering around Mephilia from a distance, then suddenly dashed inwards, catching Mephilia off-guard. Mephilia wasn't quite as quick to evade as usual, and as such took a couple hits from Sirena's lasers. And, interestingly, the hits seemed more effective than she'd expected. She hadn't put any additional power into them, so... _Is it because of Sanae? Is Mephilia vulnerable to the divine?_

Sirena pulled away, reopening the distance as she and Mephilia continued to exchange fire. But it was more than that; Sirena was waiting for her chance, and when she saw it she took it, dashing inwards again. But this time she didn't stop, her fire covering her approach. Mephilia evaded the fire, and then Sirena was right in front of her, coming in with a slash from her sword. Mephilia managed to block the attack, but Sirena quickly rebounded and struck again.

And then the slowed shots from Sirena's nodes behind Mephilia closed in.

Sirena's sudden charge into melee range served as an effective distraction, and Mephilia hadn't noticed the shots closing in. Now, she launched into a desperate attempt to evade, something Sirena was expecting and took advantage of. She moved in, but Mephilia was quick to react, striking with her sword before Sirena could. But Sirena made no attempt to evade. She took Mephilia's slash to her arm, but then she thrust her own weapon straight through Mephilia's heart.

Sirena channelled energy through her sword, essentially firing a blast from inside Mephilia. And this blast was laced with Sanae's divine energy, which seemed to make it even more effective.

Sirena pulled her sword out, and Mephilia's body fell to the ground.

[end BGM]

Mephilia hit the ground in front of Sanae, who, seeing that the battle was over, ended the effects of her blessing. Then, pushing through an exhaustion greater than she'd ever felt before, she walked over to Mephilia. "It's... over."

"It will never be over," Mephilia said. But even as she spoke, her body was... breaking apart. "I... will return."

Sirena landed on the other side of her from Sanae. "You won't. The link that gave birth to you is severed. We won't be seeing you again."

"We... will... see..." And then that was it; Mephilia was gone.

* * *

Suwako crushed a Twisted under a rock, then spun around and threw her rings at another. The rings cut right through it, then swung around and cut through it again on their way back. Suwako caught the rings and ran in between two Twisted, spinning around and slicing through both of them. Which took care of that group, but more were approaching, and Suwako turned to face them.

And then they stopped.

And then they just... came apart. Broke into pieces and vanished. And not just those specific Twisted; _all_ of them were vanishing.

 _Well,_ Suwako thought, _I guess Sanae did it._

...

"I can confirm," Kerai said. "We've hit vanishing. The Twisted are disappearing."

Which was a surprise; Kanako had expected either turnover or vanishing, but not one followed by the other. Unless perhaps Mephilia had first been weakened, then killed? That could account for it.

"Then it's confirmed," Kanako said. "The battle is over."

* * *

There was still a connection between the outside world and Gensokyo, as Liri had known there would be. But that wasn't the part that mattered. The link that bound Gensokyo to the outside's fantasy was severed.

"Okay," Liri said, "that takes care of that. Let's get back to Gensokyo." She turned to Luna. "What's our way back?"

"Right here," Luna said, and did... something, something directed right at where the energy flow had been.

Liri saw... something. "What did you do?"

"This is the point of closest connection between the two worlds," Luna said. "That's why the link we severed was here. We actually blocked the other connection as well, but that one's a bit sturdier. It's anchored on both sides of the border, and those anchors reach out to each other, reestablishing the connection if it's disrupted."

"Anchored? So it's a maintained connection, not a naturally-occurring one?"

"That's right," Luna said. "The one we severed arose on its own as a consequence of how Gensokyo was set apart as the land of fantasy, but this one came about during the separation process. Left on its own, it would have degraded over time, but keeping it intact helps stabilize the border and keep Gensokyo intact."

"The border," Liri said. "If it's maintaining the border, then the anchors are..."

"The Hakurei Shrine, yes. The shrine exists on both sides of the border, using this connection to do so. That's why it's the best exit. Head on through; you'll end up at the Hakurei Shrine."

"'You' will?" Liri said. "Are you not coming through?"

"This one has to be held open from the outside. I can't pass through it while doing so like what I did to get us here. Don't worry; I have another way out. Same one I used last time I was in here."

Liri was confused for a moment, but then she understood. "I see. All right, then. Come on, Tilea. Let's go."

"We're just leaving her?" Tilea said.

"She'll be fine. She has another way out."

"Okay. She's kinda nice, though. Will we see her again?"

 _Well, you won't know it's her, but..._ "You know," Liri said as she and Tilea headed through the opening, back into Gensokyo, "I think we just might."


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"That's it?" Sirena said. "You're just... letting me walk away?"

"If I was going to kill you," Liri said, "I'd have done it already. But I told you I wouldn't, and I intend to keep my word. I needed you alive to help convince the humans they were wrong, and you did; that's the only reason you're still alive. But if it ever happens again, if you ever start inciting violence between humans and youkai again, then I _will_ kill you."

"And if someone other than me responsible?"

"In that case," Liri said, "you'd better find whoever is before I find you."

* * *

 _That was the last time I saw Liri._

 _Her threat was real when she made it, but I doubt it still holds true._

 _Things are different now, for obvious reasons. Not for Gensokyo as a whole, no seismic uphevls or anything like that, but some things are different. Sanae is a god now, after all, and that brings changes. She can no longer be the Moriya shrine maiden, obviously, but Mystia is capably filling that role. Her training had barely begun when Sanae ascended and she had to take over, but Kanako and Suwako were patient with her, and very willing to help her learn her duties._

 _Sanae has her own shrine now; three gods in a single shrine would be a bit much. It's not on the mountain; she doesn't want to have to compete with Kanako and Suwako. They're all on good terms, and neither want to have to fight for faith. So they remain on the mountain, and Sanae established her shrine within the Forest of Magic. We did set up a branch shrine for Kanako and Suwako and they one for Sanae, a common practice between strongly-allied gods._

 _Mystia had an advantage over me. She had barely begun her training, but I hadn't started any training when I became the Kochiya maiden. But Lady Kochiya was just as patient and helpful with me as Kanako and Suwako were for Mystia._

 _Luna, at least as Luna, hasn't been seen since. But Rumia has. She said she'd just been hiding out the whole time because she was scared of the Twisted. Cirno bought it, of course, but I don't think Daiyousei and Mystia were convinced._

* * *

"You're staying here now?" Cirno said. "That's lame."

"Eh, we can still hang out some," Mystia said. "Maybe not as much, but some, whenever there's time between my duties. You'll have to stop freezing frogs, though. I'm the frog god's maiden now, so I'll have to stop you if you keep doing it."

"Okay, I'll just do it when you're not around."

"That's not going to cut it. You keep doing it, and she'll have me go after you. I'm afraid you're going to have to actually stop it this time."

"Oh, come on," Cirno said, "that's dumb. They thaw out just fine, anyways. Well, most of the time. A lot of the time. Sometimes."

"You'll just have to find something else to freeze," Mystia said. "Try slugs; neither of my gods particularly cares for those."

* * *

 _Relations between humans and youkai improved quickly. After all, the humans knew full well they would have been wiped out if not for the mountain youkai and others who'd joined the battle. They remain fairly good, as I see in my own trips into the village._

 _Nobody in the village recognizes me. Which is only natural; my disguise looked very different from my true self. And Ren's disappearance was never questioned; there were deaths in the village during the battle, and Ren is hardly the only person whose body wasn't found._

 _Do I feel guilt over what I did? No. Only that it wasn't what was needed. I was merely fulfilling my purpose, though I did not understand what that purpose truly was. And after the battle, I was without purpose. That's why I agreed to become Sanae's maiden. She chose me because of my actions in the fight against Mephilia. Without my aid, she would have had to sacrifice herself for victory. I fought for her, despite never having even met her before as far as she knew (though we did meet briefly when I was in disguise as Ren). She saw that as an act of faith towards her, and in a way I suppose it was._

 _Does she know what I did? Almost certainly. Not at the time she asked me to become her maiden, I don't think, but it's almost certain she does now. I am her maiden, after all; there's little about me she doesn't know. I can't say for sure, though; we... don't talk about it. But she recognizes, I think, that I do not desire harm to anyone. And perhaps she also feels that if I am her maiden, she is able to restrain me from such actions. But she also knows that my devotion to her is genuine; she is, after all, the one who gave me a purpose after I had lost mine._

* * *

"...so they asked me to check in," Mystia said, "make sure things were going smoothly."

"Of course they are," Takeri said. "I know Nitori always talked like everything would fall apart without her, but she was just full of it. Full of herself."

Mystia didn't seem fazed by Takeri's attitude. "You know, I... lost someone, too. It's part of what drove me here. I got angry, too. Threw a pan into a friend's face. Fortunately she's too stupid to hold a grudge, but the point is I got angry, too. But Wriggle and I fought so she could get away, and Wriggle died for it. She may not have known it would happen, but... it still happened."

"...Your point?"

"My point is that I'm like you. I've had a friend sacrifice herself to save another. So-"

Takeri cut her off. "A friend? You think Nitori was a _friend_? Please, that woman was a bitch. I only put up with working with her because it was necessary. And don't for a _second_ think that what she did was for Kanako's sake, okay? She didn't die for anyone else; she died for herself. She blamed herself for Liora's death; that's why she did it. Because she was so goddamn self-absorbed to even comprehand the possibility that she _wasn't_ responsible for something that happened around her. She died, Mystia, because she couldn't pull her head out of her own ass."

"I... um..."

"Look," Takeri said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you. You're only trying to comfort me." _So_

"It's okay," Mystia said. "Like I said, I lashed out, too. Just... if you need help, with anything, feel free to come to me."

"I don't Takeri said, "not with this, but... thank you."

* * *

 _I don't believe Sanae truly understands what it all means. Or Liri, for that matter. They've moved on with their lives. I have, too. But... not completely. I was confident that my purpose was for the good of Gensokyo, but... it wasn't. It wasn't even from Gensokyo at all. It was nothing more than a plot point. Just one piece in a larger story._

 _What does it mean, that my actions were decided for me? And how do I know whether or not they now are? We severed the link, yes, but we don't really know that's what that meant. We haven;t seen anything similar to that incident, sure, but still, it's impossible to know for sure. But at least I've made sure there's a record of what happened. If someone looks, they will know what we've found. The Child of Miare will, too, when next she is born into this world; I will make sure to tell her of it all, and though she may not believe me, she will certainly record it anyways. That, after all, is her purpose. So although I don't know what will happen, I do know one thing._

 _What happened here will not be forgotten._

* * *

 **And end.**

 **Yeah, so first of all, I'd like to give a big 'thank you' to Bropower125 and HyakuyaAlice for actually leaving reviews. I'll be honest; I was considering not bothering to finish this story, just letting it die, and finally seeing reviews was a big part of why I decided to actually finish it.**

 **So, yeah, I think it's fair to say that this story didn't exactly go as smoothly as I'd hoped. I think it came out well enough in the end, though.**

 **Anyways, I've already got my next story lined up, but it's not Touhou this time. My next story is likely to be a Pokemon fic I'm calling _Journey_ , although this is far from your typical Pokemon journey. It'll probably be a while before it's up, though; I'm gonna take a bit of a break first. Or, well, a break from here, at least. I will be back, but in the meantime, feel free to check out my latest Touhou/Familiar of Zero crossover, where Louise ends up summoning Parsee, over on Spacebattles; it can be found here (FF doesn't like full addresses, so you'll have to enter everything up to 'com'): ****/threads/a-familiar-setting-foz-znt-45.361706/page-635#post-52076491**

 **Right, then. I hope you all enjoyed this story, as messy as it ended up being, and I hope I'll see you for the next one.**


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